Who Am I?

No, I am not having an identity crisis.  This question was asked in Sticky Faith by Powell and Clark.  The chapter was focusing on our children's identity.  They shared that Henri J. M. Nouwen during a retreat asked the question above and then explained that we seek to answer the question in 3 ways.

They are:
  • "I am what I do."
  • "I am what I control."
  • "I am what others say about me."
If we believe any of these three, they can be destructive to us and our lives.  Instead, we need to find our identity in Christ.  What does that mean?  For me, it is blessing my children every night with a reminder of who they are based on Ephesians 1.  They are blessed, chosen, holy, blameless,adopted son (or daughter),  loved, redeemed by Jesus, forgiven, sealed by the Holy Spirit, an inheritance.  I then add a few more statements of identity from other passages of Scripture: they are fearfully and wonderfully made, they are gifted, they are empowered by the Holy Spirit to be the hands and feet of Jesus as they love God and love others.  This is the truth of God's Word! Every night I remind them of this no matter how I (or they) feel or how the day went.

How would your kids answer the question?  As parents, we need to ground them in the truth and lead them away from the three options above.  This too can be a reminder for us about who and whose we are.

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