Who are you? Find your identity in whose you are

I ran into Ted, a longtime campus minister I served with in the 1980s. I asked him what has changed with students over the past 30 years.

He responded immediately with matter-of-fact lament, “Oh, they don’t know who they are!” He walked among those facing an identity crisis.

Who am I?

Nowadays, that shows up as a popular, and quite personal, question. How does one answer the question of “who-ness,” of identity?

While prospective answers abound, many tend to compress the matter into terms of pedigree (“I am from or related to … ”), politics (“I am with or for … ), profile (“I am ‘liked or followed’ by … ) or some sort of personal preference (“I am about and into, or identify with … ).

Meanwhile, others default into descriptive mode, using titles and attributes to answer the inquiry. For example, I am Craig: husband, father, white, middle-aged, middle-class, male, reflective, dry-witted, almost 6-foot-1.

Be that as it may, do these qualities make me “who I be”? Or may I reach beyond individual identifiers, in order to expand the question in terms of “be-longing”?

What if who I am is based on whose I am?

After all, I belong to Jesus; my life, my identity, is in him. Nothing can change this (Romans 8). Jesus gives me new life, a new disposition, a new direction. In him, I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

I am not my own.

As comprehended in the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism: “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” Answer: “That I am not my own, but belong — body and soul, in life and in death — to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ…”

While confessed as an individual, this identity calls me to live, and to love, within a community, a fellowship, a family. “See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (I John 3)

My daughter once posted in bold letters on her bedroom door: “Megan Davis is a Child of God.” This declares identity indeed! And when posted in a heart as well, such a succinct statement sinks into the soul, offering identity comfort.

Relatedly, the question of who I am finds direct relation to having a living relationship with the Great I AM.

As the Bible reveals, God identifies himself as the LORD, “I AM” (Exodus 3). As the self-existent sovereign, he delivers his people from bondage and leads them into a land of promise and rest. This salvation happened in the Old Testament (see Exodus-Joshua), and pointed to a greater salvation in the New Testament when Jesus came in the flesh as Savior and Lord.

Significantly, in John’s gospel Jesus declares that he is I AM! — “I AM speaks to you … I AM! Do not fear! … I AM the bread of life … I AM the light of the world … . Before Abraham was born, I AM … I AM the door for the sheep … I AM the good shepherd … I AM the resurrection and the life … . I AM the way and the truth and the life … I AM the true vine … I told you that I AM.” This repeated “I AM” reference reveals identity: Jesus is God; Jesus is Lord. (Philippians 2)

Because Jesus came as I AM, I can come to him as I am.

As the old hymn confesses: “Just as I am, without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bid’st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come!”

In I AM is who I am.

This story was originally published July 19, 2018 at 6:27 PM.