Identity - Definition; the distinguishing character or personality of an individual.
Who are you? No really... Who are you? When you introduce yourself to someone how is it worded? "Hi I'm Rachel, Grace and Gabriel's mom" is usually my answer since my children have become far more popular than I am at this point. Or "hi I'm _____ the secretary at church" " I'm DR. ____" "Im _____ friend of Tim Tebow (hey! It's all in who you know! Right?) "hi I'm _____, _____ wife" You get what I'm saying? So many people walk around not truly knowing who they are! Oh sure they know what they like, in clothes and movies and music, but they honestly have no clue of their God given identity. What makes them them. Not by what they do, or which church they belong to or if they root for the tigers or the gamecocks! If all of your "badges" were taken away, what would be left? Would you feel completely insecure? Like you were standing naked? If so you might want to recheck some things. Something I've learned as of late, is "who I am". You see for many years "who I am" was stripped from me. It was a slow fade. In fact I didn't even realize it until I stepped away and found I was not who I was before. It's taken most of this last year to build back who I am. To rediscover how He sees me. How blessed am I that God promised He will rebuild better and stronger than before! I now see clearly those who walk around with no idea who they are. (If you ever said that to them they would of course get defensive so I advise against that.) However, you can and should pray for them! Pray that God shows them who they are IN HIM. Even if that means taking down their badges to show their true selves. God needs people who are strong in who He made them to be. Not ones who see their identity and purpose in their title or association.
I've just been seeing that a lot recently and thought I'd throw it out there. Be encouraged to seek who you are in Him. Not in anything else, because as we know it can (and will) be gone in a blink.
