Brenda’s Blog – July 28, 2015
“All we need is your driver’s license…”
I lost my driver’s license, along with all my other ID cards. Think how socially lost you are without proof. You truly don’t exist. The catch-22 of invisibility is almost impossible to navigate. Social security wouldn’t let me apply for a replacement without a driver’s license. But a driver’s license was inaccessible without a social security card. I was a non-person!
Existential philosophers challenge us to consider the meaning of life, especially and particularly our own lives. Why are we alive and who are we – really? A question of identity.
Identity is a big topic right now. Identity theft, identity fraud, identity exchange, identity confusion – who we are is very much in play. More importantly, who we are NOT is a critical point.
And how we determine and maintain our identity is a crucial process.
The messages we send to the outside world matter. But the messages I send to my inside world matter even more. As a believer in Christ Jesus, I find great peace in the knowledge that my true identity is not what others think I am, or even what I think I am – it is who God through Christ has made me to be.
When I attempt to rearrange, reinvent, or regenerate an identity based on what I think will accomplish my goals, and satisfy my longings, crisis occurs.
Foundational to my identity is the sovereignty of God. I am not a free agent, managing my world with an unfettered hand. I am the beloved creation of a purposeful, intentional God who designed me, my path, and my destiny. Self-identification is a distorted, often perverted version of what our God determined. And when an imperfect being attempts to outthink the Perfect, chaos ensues.
Throughout the chafing, aggravating, irritating (and many other “ing” emotions) experience, I had to stop and think about who I truly am. I am not who the government recognizes me to be. I am not even who the culture decides I will be. NO, I am the daughter of the King, redeemed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Him, I am free to be me. The child’s book had it partially right, but missed the crux of the issue. It is IN HIM I find the freedom to identity. I don’t have to defiantly self-identify because He has already claimed me as His own.
Yes, I finally am a licensed driver in the state of Texas, and qualified for social security benefits. But thanks be to God I am His and He is mine, whether or not I am credentialized. My identity rests in the finished, acceptable work of Jesus.