Identity Reimagined
“This is who I am.” Is this a statement you can claim? Last week we began to set aside those false identities that we rely on to prop up our sense of worth — our roles, titles, accomplishments, emotions, and circumstances. I invited you to begin to cast off the old ways of thinking about our activity and measurements of success. This frees us then to turn our attention to what we find at the foundational essence of our identity.
This action of casting off the old and putting on the new is the first exercise in exploring identity. “…You have stripped off the old self with its practices and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator.” (Colossians 3:9-10) — The image of its creator is the key to our deepest identity and here’s why.
What defines our identity rests within the image or picture that God plants within us —sometimes called the Imago Dei. We typically think of being “made in God’s image” as being given Divine attributes instilled in all humanity and lived out in vast expressions and dimensions. Because we are “like God” we reflect that Divine image. We are creative because God is creative. We love because God is love. We are relational because God is relational through Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. But there is more. At a deeper place of knowing, being made in the Divine image calls for seeking out the essence of life that God imagines for each of us individually and communally.
How we define or recognize that image will open to us in unique ways, sometime in aha moments, mostly in the slow process and work of God. But we are given clues and images that help us explore this possibility. These are the images we will unpack in days to come and they include: I am God’s workmanship. I am God’s dwelling place. I am God’s delight. These and so many other “I am” statements help us recognize where and how God is forming and transforming our hearts, minds, and souls, cultivating our truest identity. What statements would you add to these God-imaged statements about your identity? The statements that you can claim with confidence, “This is who I am.”
