There’s more to you than the world thinks

Your identity is whatever makes you definable and recognizable as a distinct personality. It describes your individuality. It is the condition of being yourself and not another: Put in other words, your identity consists of more or less of what makes you unique as an individual and different from others.  It is simply the way you see or define yourself, or the network of values and convictions that structure your life.

As you go through the passage of life, you’ll discover that you are exposed to a myriad of influences that is likely to redefine your individuality. Society would most likely want to define you by the color of your skin, the shape and size of your frame, the wads of cash in your family’s bank account, and by a number of reasons that have no bearing on your inherent values. Once you allow yourself to be lured into living up to such extraneous pressures, you are surely going to lose your individuality. What usually happens is that other people’s opinion becomes your reality. Your whole life becomes a summation of what people say or think. You definitely don’t want to live that way.

Psychology tells you that as you transit from adolescence to adulthood you are likely to have an identity crisis.  This in the opinion of Erik Erikson is the stage of psychosocial development when you begin to quest for answers about the nature of your being and the search for an identity. You go through internal conflicts resulting from your physical growth, sexual maturation, and the integration of your ideas of yourself and about what others think of you. This is the point at which you form your self-image as you take on the grueling task of resolving the crisis of your “basic ego identity”.    

According to Erikson those who emerge from this stage with a strong sense of identity are well equipped to face adulthood with confidence and certainty. “Those who fail to achieve a cohesive identity-who experience an identity crisis-will exhibit a confusion of roles,” not knowing who they are, where they belong, or where they want to go. This sort of unresolved crisis leaves individuals struggling to “find themselves.” They may go on to seek a negative identity, which may involve crime or drugs or the inability to make defining choices about the future.

Why struggling to find yourself within the context of a twisted world? Your true identity is not in what the world thinks or says about you. It is not about how dark or f air you are; it is not about how tall or short you are, neither is it about how fat or slim you are; it is not about how waded you are; it is not about whether or not you school abroad; it is not about whether you live in AJ city or VG city. A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

Your true identity is in the word of God. The bible says you are created in the image and likeness of God. Do you know what that means? You have God’s DNA in you. You are His semblance and His representative. No peer pressure can change that. No societal whim can contest that. No psychology can analyze it. That you share God’s nature is a fundamental reality.  You have been given great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world's corruption caused by human desires. (2 Peter 1:4) Sharing Jesus’ nature gives you an edge over life’s oddities. When you come to terms with this reality, it makes you feel more than a conqueror. It propels you to want to achieve more. It gives you the confidence to aspire higher.  It makes you want to live life to the fullest. It is a reality that reveals the root of your identity.

When you understand that your identity takes its source from God- you cannot be intimidated by anyone or anything. You have no reason to feel inferior or disadvantaged. The bible says, ‘it is in Him we live and move and have our being’. What more do you need to be assured of your identity?  John puts it this way, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (1 John 4:4) Wow! Have you thought about this? There’s actually more to you than the world thinks. It means the world cannot contain you. You have a superior configuration because ‘the greater One’ is in you. You can’t be cowed, bullied, or rubbished.

It is exciting to know that your identity is in God, but knowledge is not enough. What you do with this knowledge is what counts. If you are going to maintain your identity in Him then you need to get back to His word. You need the word to keep renewing your mind. What does the word say? ‘Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.’ (Rom 12:2) As you read, study, and meditate the word of God, you exchange all the funny ideas you have about yourself and your identity with God’s superior idea. Gradually you are being transformed into a better you. The word formats the hard disk of your twisted mind and installs in wonderful applications for a better life and a glorious destiny.