Where Exists Our Identity? - The Question of Who We Are

Answer this question:

1. Who are you?

Sounds simple, doesn't it? But is it really all that simple to answer? At first look, one might think it's not hard to answer, but think again. I'm calling on you to answer this question without labels or categories or limiting factors. Think big. Think of the infinite. Think deeper. Much deeper.

Let's take a look at the question above. It sounds simple, but the answers I've heard are incredibly limiting. Let me give you an example.

Q: Who are you?

A: I'm a taxidriver. I drive.

Just think about it for a minute. On the surface, it seems so simple, so innocent, so normal to answer that way. But what are you really saying? You're saying that your identity is dependent on your job. So, let me ask you this – what happens if you leave your job, or worse still, lose your job? What then happens to your identity?

This is a conversation I recalled having with a taxi driver one day on my way home. So, the next thing I did was say to him, how about start answering the question by first telling me your name. How about the life experiences that have shaped you and formed you? What about your life's philosophy and how you live and why you live the way you live? What do you believe? What do you hope in? Now, we're getting somewhere.

Our lives shape us. They help us to become who we are. They help us to find ourselves. However, it is not the mere experiences, but the reflection afterwards that allows us to really make changes in our lives for the better. It is the evaluation of experience that allows us to make an impact. When we reflect on who we are, we start to look deeper, to look introspectively at who we really are, and what we are becoming. Do we like the path we are currently following? Is it really going to lead us to our true potential? To lasting happiness? I'll leave you to reflect on that.

Now, let's take a look at what Scripture tells us about our identity.

Jeremiah 1:5 - "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you".

God has known us and chosen us for something only we can do. He planned our very existence even before the beginning of time. He created this masterpiece with so much potential. So, are you going to take on the challenge and embrace your true self in this life? Will you surrender to grace and strive to become more fully alive? More fully human? Will you submit yourself to His will in order to find yourself?

Isaiah 43:1 - "I have called you by your name and you are mine".

We are God's children. He has called us by name. Names have a very special meaning, because with one's name comes a certain power and authority over them. If a person knows another person's name, they can call them over and ask things of them. If not, the authority is somewhat lacking. So, as we are told that we are His and He has named us, it calls us to submit all that we are to Him who created us and loves us very much.

However, in the prologue of the Gospel of St John, John the Baptist describes himself as "A voice crying in the wilderness". To find oneself takes humility. It takes knowing that we don't know everything, and that though we are special and unique and chosen for something only we can do, as God has planned it, we are not more important than our brother or sister in Christ. One must be careful not to fall into the sin of pride, to think that one is superior to another because of his or her vocation to a particular way or state of life.

What happens when we try to run from who we are?

Remember the story of Jonah? He was eaten by a whale and kept inside it for three days, until God had the whale spit him out exactly where he should have been. In the end, though, Jonah obeyed God, and only then was he truly being true to himself.

The journey is not easy. As we're told during the Call of the Disciples (Mark 1:16-20), we are called to take up the Cross, leave all behind and follow Him. But, we are promised eternal life with Him (John 3:15, 10:28), if we choose to unite ourselves with His sufferings and follow Him. This is really the only way to become who we are truly meant to be.

So, will you take up the challenge to find yourself in Christ?