I am often moved in the deepest parts of my soul when I have a “divine intersection” occur in my life. It happens when what I am reading and processing in my life intersects with what other family or friends are working through and finally when culture is addressing the same issue. Recently I have had one of these intersections of thought around the topic of our identity. What makes you, you?
Dale Kuehne: Human Purpose and Identity in a recent video states that philosophers claim that “we can’t know who we are without a reference point.” His talk dives deep into the struggle of sexual identity as not the real struggle and not our identity. We are all in a search for our identity and often find ourselves looking in all the wrong places. Our obsession for marking ourselves with preferences, tattoos, work, money, friendships, accomplishments and even ministry fails us on this quest for understanding. We have fallen into a dead end road when we look for our identity without a reference point. Paul David Tripp addresses this from a different angle and calls it “two competing kingdoms” and the war for our hearts that Jesus talks about in Matthew 6. He points out that we are in a war for the heart.
Can we understand who we really are by simply identifying with what makes us feel good or OK with ourselves? Our social media culture has not helped us in this search for identity by looking at what everyone is saying or doing. Oxford dictionary defines this syndrome as FOMO.
FOMO is the anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on a social media website or app.
We are so addictively looking at what everyone else is saying or doing or trying that we miss right where we are. Where we are at present will tell us more about ourselves than anyone else. Are we missing out on who we are right where we are?
What are you referencing for your identity? I must discipline myself to remember that no one steals my identity. Rather, I give it away to lesser ideas of love. May we be reminded that we are amazing created beings with original unique design and that our reference point for knowing who we are is a creator who loves us.
1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain. Psalm 139
Troy A Murphy 