If I were to ask you to introduce yourself by telling me one thing about who you are, what would you choose to tell me? I am guessing most of you would choose to identify yourselves by giving me a title of what you do (mother, wife, husband, lawyer, doctor, teacher, hair dresser… you get the picture). Many of us use the things we do in this life to identify who we are. But what would happen if you were stripped of all that you had once identified with, who would you be then?

We easily intertwine what we do with who we are because that is so often what brings fulfillment in our lives. What we fail to remember, especially when we are young, is that those things fade like the grass. They are here today but gone tomorrow. One day either through time or event, there is a real possibility that you will no longer be remembered by those things. What will fill you then?

What of those who, rather than choose to tell me what you do, would choose to tell me how you perceive yourself instead? For example, "I am a girl rather than a boy", or "I am fat (when you are really skinny), I am ugly, or a failure", or maybe you think highly of yourself and would say "I am the greatest"!

Here is why I ask. If you are not finding your identity in Christ and allowing God to define who you are, you will be defined by your culture instead, and then you will have to live up to that definition.

How much more freedom there is in Christ! Lose yourself, and find your identity in Him instead (Matthew 16:24-26)! This is the only relationship that transcends death, and is the only vital relationship that spills over and affects everything and everyone else in our lives. A.W. Tozer said once that “what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us”. I pray, let it be “I am a daughter or son of the Most High God”! Tozer also says “to have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love”.

Falling in love with Christ so much that your thoughts are consumed and your identity is wrapped up in Him will have an impact on every other thought and every other action in your life. Your love for Him will spill over into love for others, and your desire to please and honor Him will shine through in the everyday things you do.

“Thou has formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.” - Augustine