What is my true identity?
Six ‘I Am’ statements about who I am in God
By Jessica Brodie
“You wear a lot of hats!” I hear that a lot. As a working mom and wife who’s also a novelist, blogger, and church volunteer, it’s true—and don’t we all?
Most of us don’t claim only one “role” as our identity. We might be parent, spouse, employee or boss, and a dozen other things that seemingly define us. You might be a runner, or a yogi, or a fan of a particular sports team, and maybe you even have the clothing—and the bumper sticker–to prove it. When working from home, if I have a Zoom meeting and my kids make a noise in the background, I’ve heard myself apologize sometimes and blurt, “Sorry, all—I’m also wearing my ‘mom hat’ today.” (As if that’s ever a hat I take off.)
My “hats” might look different from yours. For me: I’m the editor of the oldest newspaper in Methodism, a journalist, a novelist and freelance writer, a YouTuber, and a podcaster. I’m a wife and a mom and stepmom to a blended family of four kids and stepkids. I’m a daughter and a daughter-in-law, an aunt and a sister, a friend. I’m a hiker and a reader and an amateur photographer. A volunteer and a member at my church. A mentor. A teacher. A confirmation leader. A small-group Bible study leader.
These are all good things and incredibly important to me.
But... what happens if I lose my job? If I move far away? If a parent dies or a relationship ends? If I change churches or lose my ability to write? Then what?
Who am I then?
What is my foundation when everything I thought I had is gone? Who am I when all else is stripped away?
This can be a source of major identity crisis for people. Think about it: You meet someone and shake hands (pre-COVID, of course) and they ask, “And what do you do?”—as if what we do for a job is what defines us. But then one day we lose our job, or our kids go off to college, or our spouse dies, and we find we’re no longer able to be defined by that earthly, temporary role we played.
We are so much more than our jobs. We are so much more than our relationships with other humans, whether that’s parent or spouse or employee. These are important, but they’re not as important as one key thing:
Everything we are, everything in our lives, is rooted in God.
So let’s explore a few key mind-shifts about our real identity, the only identity that truly matters—our identity in God.
1. I’m God’s special creation
We know the universe didn’t just happen—God made it. He handcrafted it, with design, like an artist and his masterpiece. God made the heavens and the earth, the light and the darkness, the land and the sea. God made the moon and the stars and the fish and the birds and all the animals upon the earth. And then God made His special creation, human beings.
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As it says in Genesis 1:27 NLT, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
That’s right—created in God’s own image. Special. Important!
Psalm 139:13-16 says it more poetically, perhaps: “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”
Then there’s that potter-clay image from Isaiah 64:8: “And yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.”
We are fully known, formed by God, and created especially.
2. I am a Christian
This means, most simply, I am a follower of Christ.
We know Jesus is God’s son. In the Gospels he calls himself the “bread of life” and “living water,” the light of the world and the door to heaven, the good shepherd, the resurrection, and the life.
And knowing that, we are also told by Jesus himself what we are to do: “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).
When we claim the role “Christian,” when we truly follow Christ, we become part of Him. The Holy Spirit comes to live inside us. We also get the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and the attitude of Christ (Philippians 2:5).
We essentially become a new person. As it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (NIV).
3. I am God’s child.
Therefore, given all this, we get another special identity: we get to be God’s own child. That’s right: I am a daughter of the king. A princess! He’s my dad, my Father, and I can tell him anything, talk to him whenever I want.
As it says in Galatians 4:6-7, “And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, ‘Abba, Father.’ Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir” (NLT).
As God’s daughter, God takes care of me. Philippians 4:19 promises, “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”
In fact, God cares for me better than even the beautiful birds of the sky. As Jesus tells us, urging us not to worry in Matthew 6:26-27, “Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?”
4. I’m God’s temple
A temple is a special place, a holy and sacred place. It is honored and worthwhile, always to be cared for properly and with love and respect.
And we, too, are a temple. Because God lives in us through the Holy Spirit when we believe in Jesus, we are worthy, special, and holy. We are to be treated lovingly, with the utmost of care and respect.
In 1 Corinthians 3:16:17, Paul writes, “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”
And in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Paul reiterates that: “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
Indeed, he says, our bodies are actually parts of Christ (1 Corinthians 6:15).
That is us. That is our identity—God’s holy temple.
5. I’m a citizen of heaven
When we believe in Jesus, we get eternal life. Death is not the end. As a member of God’s kingdom, our soul has the opportunity to live on in heaven.
Paul writes in Philippians 3:20 that we “are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives.”
And Romans 8:17 says “we are heirs of God’s glory.”
Therefore, this means we’re God’s representatives here on earth.
In 2 Corinthians 5:20 we’re told, “So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us.”
6. I’m a disciple
As a follower of Christ, I model my life after him. I believe in him. I learn at his knee, much like Mary, sister of Lazarus, did. That’s what a disciple is—one who follows after and learns from the master and tries to be like Him.
As followers of Christ, we have some significant directives from Jesus: The Great Commandments and the Great Commission.
The Great Commandments appear in Matthew 22:37-40, during a conversation between Jesus and a legal expert. The expert asked which is the greatest commandment in the Law.
“Jesus replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
And the Great Commission comes after the resurrection in Matthew 28:18-20, as Jesus addressed His disciples.
“Jesus came and told his disciples, ‘I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”
As a disciple, that’s our job: Love God, love people, spread the Gospel.
I add to these Jesus’s words in Matthew 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.”
We get so busy in life, and distractions can easily take our focus off the most important things. But remembering who we are—and Whose we are, as God’s precious and beloved child—crystallizes our priorities when the clamor of the world gets too loud.
Can you add any more “I am” statements to these? What are some more identity roles we have that are rooted in God and not the world?
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