The question of who we are is significantly bound up with whose we are. Most people struggle with working out who they are; their identity. There are lots of reasons why people today suffer from an identity crisis. Here's a few of them:
1. Self-obsession. Ours is the age of self-love. Fulfillment in life is wrongly thought to be found in living for yourself. But in our vain attempt to find ourselves through self-love and self-indulgence, we have actually lost ourselves.
2. Pragmatism. What people seem to care about is no longer “what’s true” but rather, “what works”. Trying to find out what is true, and what is right, are no longer important aims for many.
3. Consumerism. Consumerism, or a focus on 'getting things', has at least 3 defining features.
a. It is obsessed with our rights (“Getting what I deserve”)
b. It exerts our choices (“I want more variety and options”)
c. It enlarges our wants (“I must have this”).
But getting everything we ever wanted does not satisfy our appetites, it merely increases them.
What’s the way ahead?
Remember whose we are
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:1-2)
1. Remember your true identity. You are a child of God. You belong to Him. It is not self-love that defines us, but God’s love. And the more we draw closer to God and His love, the clearer our identity becomes.
2. Remember the truth. This truth is true and it really works too. The truth of God’s love is the most precious commodity in the world.
3. Remember others. Our identity leads us to love others with a sacrificial love that puts other's rights before our own, focuses our attention on the good of others, and is prepared to give up our needs and wants to meet other person’s needs and wants.
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18)
So, if you are struggling with your identity (and even if you are not), remember whose you are; you are God’s child.