The Identity Project

Every weed has a root.  I contend that under every sin is an identity issue.  It's a thesis I’ve been working with for awhile.  The worst things about us are often an attempt to justify a self made identity.  Greed, ego, self-importance, addiction, sexual conquest.  These are symptoms of something deeper.  There’s always a root under the stem and leaves. 

Like food and shelter, every human has a fundamental need for identity and purpose.  Identity asks, “Who am I?”  Related inquiries include: Am I worth anything?  Does anyone love me?  Will anyone take me for who I am?  Does anyone see me, get me, or understand me?  

Identity questions go back to Eden, when our ancestors were tempted to “be like God” (Gen. 3:5).  This is the ultimate confusion of who we are, that we could somehow take on God’s identity.  It’s the temptation to be someone other than who we were created to be.  Similarly, Satan’s attempt to thwart Jesus was to pervert his identity.  “If you are the Son of God . . .”  (Matt. 4:3).

We are all tempted to construct our own identity.  We all long to be someone.  We’re afraid of being “a nobody.”  It seems juvenile, I know.  But this is not just a middle school quest.  We all have our identity project.  As we get older and wiser, the project gets more subtle and yet no less insidious.  We cloak it in piety, family, career, activism, or noble achievements.  

In a subsequent series of posts, I’m going to dissect our identity projects using a quote from Henri Nouwen.  He was adept at getting  to the core of human identity and insecurity.  He once noted that we all seek to construct our own identities, and often in these ways. 

“I am what I do, what I have, or what others say about me.”  - Henri Nouwen

“Who am I?”  We live in a world that chooses ultimate definitions based on politics, sexuality, color, or status.  But under all the labels we wear, the truest is “Beloved of God.”  Jesus' baptism identified him as the “beloved son” of God.  Thus our baptisms identify us with Jesus, and therefore as God’s.  At your inner core, you are “daughter,” or “son” of the living God.  

So how do we get free from the stress of our identity projects, the weight of curating a self worthy of attention and affection?   In coming posts, I’ll diagnose our different identity projects.  Nouwen will provide the structure: identity by what we do, have, or what others say about us.   

We join the Psalmist in a pleading prayer. “Renew a right spirit within me” (Ps. 51:10).  Lord, take me back to the “me” you’ve always intended me to be. ​