I love to meet new people! Being fairly talkative at lightning fast speeds, I meet lots of new folks daily. Yet, after the initial question of “Hey, what’s your name” – the next question is logically “So, what do you do for a living?” It is amazing how our personal identity gets wrapped up in our work or careers. It seems that our identity tends to come out of WHAT we do and not WHO we are. For example, if you bake cookies for a living … you know that you are a baker. If you teach kids in a classroom … you are a teacher. If you fly commercial airplanes … you are a pilot. If you take care of the kids, schooling, and home … you are a stay at home mom or dad. If you play guitar in a rock band … you are a musician. Makes sense, and it is logical. Yet, if you ever talk or counsel with someone going through job loss, career transition, or empty nesting – this loss of personal identity is extremely stressful. In many cases, the loss or lack of identity can be MORE stressful than having to replace the lost income from a job or time spent with children who have left the home.
Honestly, the reason for our stress is simple to understand … in that moment of career or life change … we have lost our sense of purpose. Purpose is what gets us out of bed in the morning. Purpose is what drives us. Purpose is what gets us focused. Purpose is what gets our blood fired up and pumping. Purpose is what gives us a reason for fighting through tough times. Purpose is why we don’t beg and scream for God to beam us up from this messed up giant blue marble. When we lose our sense of purpose, it rocks us to the very core. Losing our purpose is a lot like having the GPS ripped right out of your vehicle … suddenly you just don’t know how to get from point A to point B. We end up lost all the bloody time!
To me, we as a church body are suffering from IDENTITY THEFT. We all know that the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), but we minimize how much he has stolen our identity in Him. We have fallen prey to allowing the cares and worries of the world (Matthew 13) to rob us from our identity as His child. When we understand our proper identity in Christ … we now understand our purpose! Armed with life breathing purpose, we now have focus on our daily mission. When we come to understand that we are His children, holy royal priesthood, and co-heirs to an eternal kingdom (1 Peter 1:16; 1 Peter 2:9; Romans 8:17), we then understand that no matter what happens here in the earth … our purpose is to advance the kingdom we are one day to inherit. Purpose placed in our earthly concerns can rust, fade, fall apart, and be easily stolen – but solid purpose firmly rooted in Christ – can never be ripped out from your hands.
It is NOT about what we do … it is all about WHO we are! We have been given power and authority to be more than conquerers (Ephesians 1:18-21; Ephesians 2:6; Romans 8:37; Mark 16:17-18) and to push back darkness on behalf of eternity.
Hi, my name is Alan and I’m a child of the living God …