Identity Crisis

We all put our identity in something: possessions, position, and people. As a result, our identifiers control our temperature. We get heated when we lose something, our authority is in question, or we disagree with a loved one. Like a roller coaster, our days have their ups and downs. We often do not see them coming, but once our ups become downs, we let our worst become evident.

We have created a love relationship with the world around us, glorifying the good it brings us, and being corrupted by its tempting beauty. At night, we go to bed with it, and in the morning, it leaves us unsatisfied. The result? Destruction of our spiritual, emotional, and even physical well-being.

Once sin plagued this world, Satan used deceit, lies, and evil to enslave God's Image to his purpose: total annihilation of any possible love relationship with the Almighty God. One of his greatest weapons is convincing us to be content with the world. Like a one-night-stand, we try to get what we want quickly, and when the night is over, we go on seeking another form of happiness that is as fleeting as the air we breathe.

As we go from one hotel room to another, sin slowly devours us; unrealistic comparisons, lust, greed, coveting, uncontrollable temper, self-pity, lying, malice, the list goes on. We become the monster we promised we would never become. If we were to be interviewed with the question, "Do you wish to inflict harm on anyone?" most of us would consciously say "No." Unfortunately, when worldly expectations are not met, we lose control and live a destructive lifestyle. We unconsciously change our answer to "Yes."

If we keep these things from becoming our identity, they are good things to have. When we construct a golden calf (Exodus 32) in honor of the world, we become a slave to it. We befriend the world and bow down to its commands. The world tells us, and we do it.

We have become adulterous people, sleeping with the world and shunning the love that God offers us all the time. James 4:1-4: "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God...You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God."

So, we become enemies of God when we put our trust, faith, and loyalty into the world. How is this encouraging? How is this uplifting? None of this is, but what God offers is truly the greatest gift we can receive. When we read James 4:4, it can be easy to take pity on ourselves because we have so often become friends with the world. But, we can take heart because "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted, beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out, so that you can endure it."

In other words, all of the sins that mankind has had to endure in the past can still be endured through God's promise that no temptation is beyond your control. Hence, any friendship with the world can be avoided because it is not beyond what we can bear. We can choose to focus on God's will for us and not on the temptations of the world.

See, Satan wants us to get entangled in our sin and lose track of God's purpose for our lives. On the other hand, God wants us to see our potential through his eyes - and we can only reach it when we allow him to direct us at all times. Again, we must choose him as our guide.

So, how can we avoid climbing in bed with the world?

Romans 12:2 speaks about how we need to think - "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world," it says, "But be transformed by the renewing of your mind." The rest of verse two is the kicker: "...Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing, and perfect will."

When you give God the opportunity to open your heart and mind, he will renew it. Psalm 1 clarifies what will happen to those who are "planted" in the Lord: "...That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not whither - whatever they do prospers" (v. 3).

Plant yourself in Christ. The true definition of success is not found in the world's dictionary, but in the libraries of Heaven. God wants you to prosper in him! We do not need to fear man (Hebrews 13:6) and conform to their patterns. If you rest in God's love, a love that fears, worries, evil, and even the gates of hell cannot vanquish, you will find an identity that only God can perfect.

Take a look around you. Do you see anything that will eternally give you peace? Wisdom? Love? In Ecclesiastes 1, Solomon is lamenting because he has searched and searched all human things, only to find them "meaningless." Even wisdom and knowledge he found to be meaningless because is all relayed back to the wickedness of man (source: Biblegateway commentary). Evidently, Christ was where Solomon could find true value. No gimmicks, no wickedness, and no flaws. Pure perfection in all things.

Sure, you can take pride in the temporary things of this world, but they will eventually fade away. So, what will be left when all of it does fade?