Identity – Part 1: This Is for You
Identity is an important part of our lives. The way we see ourselves affects how we see others and the world. And, often, the way others see us impacts who we think we are. This can have both positive and negative effects on us - positive when other people see the best in us, overlook our mistakes, and encourage us to be more confident and more courageous; negative when people put us down, belittle us, or tell us we’re unworthy or can’t possibly amount to anything. It’s important to be careful whose voice you listen to and who you let influence your beliefs and your identity.
The safest, truest, and most trustworthy voice you can accept to tell you who you are is God.
Why? Because He made you, and He made you exactly how He wanted you, because He has great plans for you.
We spend decades learning who we are, but God has known us intimately from before the world began.
“Before You Were Born I Set You Apart…”
In 627 B.C., God spoke to a man named Jeremiah. He said, “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”
Maybe you’re thinking, “Yeah, but Jeremiah was obviously someone special. After all, God wanted him to be a prophet. But God doesn’t care about someone insignificant like me.”
So let’s look at someone else.
“Every Moment Was Laid Out Before a Single Day Had Passed.”
Another man, David, wrote this song to God in Psalm 139:
You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb….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.
But maybe you know that David was one of Israel’s greatest kings, and you’re thinking, “That still doesn’t prove this is for me. That guy obviously had a big, important destiny.”
So let’s back up a bit. Instead of settling for a prophecy that was only spoken before you were born, let’s look at something that happened before the human race ever existed.
“Let Us Make Human Beings in Our Image.”
So here’s something God said to Himself in Genesis 1:26: “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us” (emphasis mine). And in Genesis 1:27, He did:
So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Are you a human being? Then God made you in His image, to be like Him.
And He made you for a purpose.
Stay tuned for the next post in this series on identity to find out what God says about you.