Friday, May 13, 2016

Identity...

...where does it come from? So we all have birth certificates, social security cards, licenses and junk mail that identifies us by name, gender and in some cases age. But where do we get our identity from? I have been thinking about this a lot lately. I frequently struggled with how to finish the sentence; "I am ...". I wasn't a mother or wife and while I was a daughter I was one of four so it just didn't seem to be an identifier that worked for me.

Maybe I was wanting to be unique in a way that gave me value. I know that when I finally earned my Masters in Library Science, I felt a type of relief that now I had an identity. I could now finish my sentence; "I am a Librarian" and that was my identity. By now I'm sure some of you are shaking your heads and muttering about how I've put my value and identity in the wrong place. I realize that but I'm still proud to be a Librarian.

I recently heard a someone talking about the issue of identity and value. He had brought up the point that so often we feel we must do great things so that we can be identified as a person of value. I often do this in my Christian life too. I think that for God's approval I have to complete this list of expected behaviors. That God won't claim me if I don't earn my Christian identity. The Pastor that I was listening to used Matthew 3:17 to show that God puts Identity before Action.

17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

This was the voice of God at Jesus' baptism. Jesus had not performed any miracles yet. He had not gathered any disciples or started His evangelical journey through the countryside yet. He had not taken any Action that would have earned Him God's favor and yet, God was pleased with Him.

All that to say that while I may not have it all down I am working towards knowing who I am. I may have earned the identity of Librarian but the identity of God's Child was given to me and all I had to do was accept it.