Who Am I?

What we term the holiday season—Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s—brings much joy, but can also usher in heartache we have managed to squelch the rest of the year. Instead of focusing on our blessings, perhaps depression settles in because of losses we have suffered.

This depression can very well be linked to how we view ourselves—our identity. The world, our environment, may look at us and say, “You are a teacher or a housewife, or a miner.” In other words, we are identified by our job or career.

There’s the aspect of relationship in identity—you are a spouse, or a parent or a child. Perhaps a friend or fiancé.

When something happens to change what we consider our identity, depression may well become part of our life. We lose a parent, a spouse, a child, a friend, or a job. Even our health can be an identifier.

We describe ourselves as unemployed, chronically ill, a widow/widower, divorcee, an orphan.

Our pastor gave such a great lesson on identity recently. He said, “Never base your identity on something you can lose.”

We can lose family members, relationships, jobs, health, beauty and brawn. But the one constant we can never lose is God’s unconditional love. Once we have given ourselves to Him and accepted the forgiveness He freely offers because of what Jesus did on the cross for us, we are locked into an identity that will never change. That being a child of the King of kings.

Which brings us back full circle to Christmas and a new year.  In chapter three of the gospel of John, we read in verse 16 that God loved the world (and we can each insert our name in place of “the world”) so much He sent His Son, Jesus into the world so we can live with Him forever.

In that same gospel of John, the very first verse says, “The Word (Jesus) became flesh and lived with us. Jesus loved us so much He was willing to leave the awesome beauty and perfection of heaven to come to earth for thirty plus years and then take the penalty of our sin upon Himself. But it didn’t stop there. He was resurrected—He smashed death so His children no longer needed to fear it.

A child of the King--hat’s an identity to claim with a passion!