Who Told You Who You Are?
Updated: Aug 25
For those searching for their true identity.
There’s probably a lot of you looking at this and thinking, “What more does this fellow teenager writing blogs think about controlling my identity?”
Well, you’re right. I don’t. But I know someone who does. So, stick around with me.
If I’m not here to lecture you, but I sure can share some of my experiences and establish a rapport, if you will.
The Person I Tried to Become
I grew up, trying to be the best person people could find. And where I couldn’t, I’d look up to people who’d help me reach there. During my school days, I picked up habits like religiously underlining my textbooks so as to appear as the “studious kid”, learning calligraphy to decorate my notebooks which helped me earn brownie points from my teachers, and tons of other things just so I could feel “better” about myself.
It’s safe to say that I was insecure. And I was ambitious enough to do some work to hide that up. But where did it get me? Oh, I did create habits that enormously helped me in my later years.
But it created a sense of self I didn’t know I would have to unlearn years down the road.
When Other People Define You
My Identity. At that time, was all what people thought of me.
“You’re such a lovely child”
“You’re so creative”
“I hope my kids learn from you”
“You have a bright future”
And it is probably for you too. Your thoughts about yourself are probably things fed to your brain by the people around you. Isn’t that how one’s identity is shaped?
What If They Were Wrong?
Well, what if I told you your identity was predestined. That the things you’ve heard up growing are just layers piling upon the real treasure- and you’ve not realized it yet because of the amount of superficiality you’ve grown up hearing- or maybe, just maybe- you’ve been too tired to search it out yourself.
It took me some time, and I’m still struggling. But what helped isn’t a better thing. It was a better someone.
If every compliment disappeared tomorrow...
Who would you be?
The One Who Knew You First
Imagine having someone who knows you for who you are, before you imbibed what the world had to say about you. Someone who knitted you in your mother’s womb and knew the ups and downs you’d face even before you began taking a breath. Someone who knows the number of hairs on your head (even if you may have none, He knows that too.) Someone who sees the things you hide from the world, from even your loved ones. Someone who knows the real you.
Imagine Him. And believe me when I say this. He loves me. And guess what. He loves you. You just probably haven’t realized it yet.
Loved Before You Performed
This is the treasure, my friend. That there’s an all-powerful, all-knowing God who knows you and loves you. Not for the things you do. But for the person you are.
And for Him, you’re not the stuck up, insecure lad you think you are; or the countless things people have to say about you. You’re His child. And that isn’t determined by how high you rise or how low you fall.
You’re His child.
And He’s a good Father. Just like fathers love you and do things for you just because you’re their child (if you’ve not had a good father here on earth, it’ll probably take some time to understand this- but that’s a topic we’ll dwell on sometime later), your Heavenly Father doesn’t require you to be the most holiest person in the room to earn His love. His love is free. It’s just who He is. Nothing you do can make God love you more or less. His love comes first, and it's that love that transforms us.
Living From Identity, Not For It
Isn’t that hard to wrap around?
Well, it was a little for me. But it also was liberating for me.
My sense of worth didn’t necessarily have to come from a place of what I could do to other people, or the great milestones I had to hit to be called “successful”, “productive”, “good”.
I was good.
In His eyes.
I was His very good.
And so now, I live life from a place of knowing where my identity is. That I’m not marked by what I do, that I’m valuable not because of what I could achieve but because I belonged to Him. That changed the way I approached everything else. My work no longer created my identity; it became the fruit of an identity I had already received.
I no longer work to become valuable.
I work because I already am.
If You're Still Searching
This doesn’t mean everything’s sunshine and rainbows. Of-course there are times I doubt myself, and it’s so easy for me to go back to treating my gifts as if they’re bricks on my shoulders, determining life’s trajectory.
But now I know who I can go to remind me of who I am. Who- in the midst of me failing at school and being a wreck at the relationships I have- still sees me as His “very good”.
An Invitation
So, like I said, I’m not here to tell you what’s right or wrong. Or force you to choose what’s right. That’s your job. I’m just a nobody trying to tell everybody about a Somebody that saved my soul.
If this hits you, I’d like to believe that it isn’t coincidental. Perhaps God is inviting you to look a little deeper.
I may not know who you are, or what situation you may be in at this moment, but I sure know a Person who does. And I’m confident that He wanted you to see this at this very moment of your life. Cause He knows you, way before you ever tried to understand yourself.
So, if you’re someone who is having an identity crisis or is just downright exhausted of putting up a show, I encourage you to go read Jeremiah 1:5. Jeremiah was also just a youth, and probably unsure if he was ready to take on responsibilities. In the Bible, God met him, at that moment, with the very words He probably wants to meet with you right now.
And just few pages later in the same book, is another promise every youth is yearning for- Jeremiah 29:11. Though these words were originally spoken to Israel during exile, they remind us of God's faithful character and His desire to lead His people with hope. That your life isn’t solely dependent on you being the main character. There’s a blueprint set for your life, and the overseer of it always wants what’s best for you, even when you can’t see it now.
Friend, you’ve been created by a loving Creator, who holds you in His hands in the same way He holds the whole world. You don’t have to ever feel like you don’t have an identity. And though we all fall short, that has been taken care of. This same Creator of the universe couldn’t put up with just making this beautiful world and leaving it at that but felt the deepest desire to step down and enter it when He found that things had to be fixed. He loved you and me so much, that he bore our punishment- so that we could have a taste of what Heaven and eternal life is like.
Doesn’t that fill you with awe, that you are not a mere speck in this universe? That you’ve been known by the Author of this whole cosmos, and utterly loved by Him?
I wouldn’t want to stop right here.
If you feel a nudging in your heart that’s calling you to something deeper, something telling you that you’re meant for something greater than yourself, that there should be more to this life here on earth; pray this with me.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Even when I may not know myself, or what’s going on in my life, I’m glad to know that You know me, because You made me. Help me to trust that You are the person You say You are, so I can remind myself that I am not a mistake. Every time I feel like I’m not worthy, remind me of Your love for me.
In Jesus’ name I pray,
Amen.
You may or may not feel anything after praying this with me, but I hope that wherever you are, you keep reminding yourself that there’s a Person who died to save you.
Before You Go
Let me leave you with an action plan:
Go outside, or if you’re lazy to move your feet, opening the window will do. Look outside and observe nature. Soak in how beautiful everything around you is.
Once you’re done doing that, close your eyes and look to yourself. Remind yourself, that you too are part of this beautiful creation.
And more so, you’ve been placed much above that. God created the whole universe and saw it like you are seeing it now and called it “good”. Then, He decided to make humans and saw how beautiful this creation of His was and called it “very good”.
So, what makes you think otherwise?
Don’t forget. There’s so much more to this life.
Because you are His “very good”
Go outside.
Look around.
Then close your eyes.
Remember that the God who called creation "good" called humanity "very good."
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