Why Your Identity is Surprisingly not Found in Yourself

I'm many things.

I'm 26. I'm a Community Impact Director at WAY-FM. I'm a creator. I'm an extroverted introvert. I'm short.

These things, although true, fail to accurately define me, because I'm not those things. Those things only describe me and what I like to do.

Sometimes, I believe my identity is found in what I do.

I once made a short film I loved. The story was beautiful, the shots flowed perfectly together, and the finished project made me happy.

I showed it to a friend for feedback.

She didn't love it.

I was crushed...and I took it personally.

That's where I was wrong. That's where many of us are wrong.

We pour our souls into our art, we work hard on projects, and we forget that we are not our art.

I've had artist friends who believed they had lost their identity when they weren't making art.

I've had friends who after failing to get the promotion they worked hard for thought they were worthless.

This is not true. No matter how good we are at something, or how bad we are at it, it does not define our identity.

The society we live in is a superficial one. It places value on achievements and what we do in life. Although achievement is good, it is not where our identity is rooted.

It's important to remember this, because when we do fail it doesn't mean we are a failure.

We are so much more than our mistakes, because our identity is in Christ alone.

C.S. Lewis once said, "our real selves are all waiting for us in Him. It is no good trying to 'be myself' without Him...I am not, in my natural state, nearly so much of a person as I like to believe: most of what I call 'me' can be easily explained. It is when I turn to Christ, when I give myself up to His Personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own."

No matter how we describe ourselves, no matter what we do, or what we look like, our identity is meaningless unless it's found in Christ.

So we create art, we work hard, and we strive to be the best we can be, so we can glorify Him in whom our identity is found.

Without Him, our art, our skills, our job, and our identity is left incomplete.