Who Am I?
by Pastor David

“Who am I?” From Bible characters like Moses to Greek philosophers to a slew of people in “mid-life crisis,” humans have asked this question in a variety of forms. Today from the earliest ages our children are told to be true to themselves, whatever that means and assuming they have that capacity. Countless numbers of labels vie to stamp themselves on us. “I am American,” “I am poor,” “I am Republican,” “I am an addict,” “I am a mom,” “I am Hispanic,” “I am ...” Some are innocent truth, some sad truth, and many fall far short of satisfactorily answering who we truly are and are meant to be. What are some ways that the Bible tells us to think of ourselves? Because only there will we find profound, deeply accurate, and directional descriptions of ourselves that lead us to become who we are made to be.

I am not my own, but am bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:19-20)
Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

It may sound counter-intuitive, but believers will always struggle with their identity if they try to live like they are their own. While the world preaches individualism, personal freedom, and the lordship of self, the Gospel preaches slavery. Jesus says we belong to Him, and that we should see our bodies as a temple for Him. Our bodies are not playgrounds for us to enjoy without restraint and our lives are not a kingdom we get to rule over. When we act like we are our own, we inevitably face the frustration that comes from worshipping a false idol. Confusion about who we are is the necessary repercussion of trying to live as the Creator and not the creature.

I once was dead, but now I’m alive (Ephesians 2:1-2)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.

According to the Gospel, all of our life before conversion was actually death. In the most important, fundamental, core level, every human without Christ is dead. They are cut off from the One who made them, unable to have any relationship to Him that doesn’t involve animosity and judgment. We too were once dead in our trespasses and sins. Even at our best moments, when we felt most fully alive or experienced the most happiness, we were cut off from life the way God intends it to be lived. But now all that has changed. We are truly alive now, able to call God our Father and walk in newness of life. It helps us see ourselves realistically when we realize all that we prioritized, prized, and pursued prior to conversion was death. Our new life means a radical new perspective on the old life. The more we grasp the Gospel, the more what thrilled and identified us before looks like a dead corpse.