Who am I? What am I here for? What’s my purpose? The only way to effectively answer the question of who you are and what you have been created for, is to know Who your Creator is and who He created you to be.
If you want to know who you are, you need to know the I AM (Exodus 3:14). Identity means to be the I AM’s and that you were made to belong to Him and be loved by Him. You discover the great I AM through the lens of God’s perfect Word.
When we first read that the origin of the word identity is idem, Latin for ‘same,’ we thought, if I am created in God’s image, as it says in Genesis 1:27, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female”, and identity means 'same,' then from the very beginning, we were meant to reflect God and His beauty to the watching world. We are all created in God’s image, which means we are made by God and for God and to be like God. Our original design was perfect and excellent!
Specially created in God's image and molded by His beautiful hands, our DNA and His have been intertwined since before the beginning of time. Thus, life begins in knowing the foundation of one's being. We are all God's creation and we are made to glorify Him; for from Him and to Him are all things. We have the breath of God within us. We have life within us. This is our identity: to be like Him and to bear His image.
Genesis 1 and 2, describes how with a word, God created the Garden of Eden, with plants and animals and God called it ‘good.’ But when he created Adam & Eve, God said, it’s "VERY GOOD." His instructions to Adam & Eve were to, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals…” Our identity may be formed by what we do and who we surround ourselves with, but the foundation is always to derive value not from things or people but in the eternal source of life. It is our responsibility to represent God by caring for the world around us and being good stewards of the resources He has placed in our hands and lives - whether a spouse or a career - not to derive our value from it, but to view people as valuable, because we are representing God.
There were no restrictions in the Garden of Eden, except for one: to not eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The perfect couple were free and uninhibited, and only had to obey God’s one warning. Boundaries don’t create restriction, they create freedom. It says in Genesis 2:25, “Now, although Adam and his wife were both naked, neither of them felt any shame.” True, God-intended identity is to live in freedom and no shame. There is no shame in God’s presence. Our God-breathed identity is flawless, because God is perfect. But due to sin and disobedience, the original design of perfection was shattered and shame crept in. Both Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, breaking their relationship with God.
Satan tempted Eve by convincing her that God didn't want her to eat the fruit, because He didn’t want her to become just like Him. Eve was convinced when she doubted that God had the best for her in mind, when she doubted God’s goodness. When you start to convince yourself that God is not good or that He doesn’t have the best for you in mind, you compromise your identity.
When Eve ate some of the fruit and gave to her husband to eat too, suddenly their eyes were opened and they felt shame. The enemy’s lies about your identity cause you to feel shame and he tries to steal your identity first, because he knows that if he can get you to take your eyes off of God and onto yourself, that when you lose power, because you start relying on yourself instead of God.
The enemy went directly after our identity, and sin brought shame, stole our purity, but the Lord covers our shame and He covers your sins. Adam was made in the image of God, but his fallen nature due to sin, ultimately caused God to send His son Jesus, to restore and renew us being made in God’s image through Jesus Christ.
You don't have to do, because Jesus already did for you on the Cross. Watch the full episode of The Elena & Natalia Show to hear about more unique and life-changing stories in the Bible about finding your identity in Christ. We discuss the following characters:
Rachel & Leah (Beautiful yet Barren, Fruitful yet Forgotten)
This story teaches us that when we place our identity in our abilities, hoping that what we have to offer will cause someone to love us, we are relying on something or someone that will never offer us true comfort. Leah’s fruitfulness in bearing children, did not bring her fulfillment, because she was unloved by her own husband. Unlike Rachel, Leah was desperately trying to earn the love of her husband, Jacob, but in Christ, you don’t have to strive to earn – it is a free gift He has given you. You just need to receive the gift of Jesus in your life.
Beauty, love of a man, or children should not form your identity as a woman, your identity should be found in Christ, because He loves you fully, removes your shame, and, in His presence, you can just be. Man’s inability to love you does not determine God’s ability to love you. He chooses the unchosen, and loves the unloved.
Leah’s fulfillment came in praising the Lord, went she went from striving to surrendering and resting in Him. Her focus shifted from herself to God. Our identity is meant to be God-centered and not self-centered. The woman who was loved the least by her husband was a woman seen by God, covered by God, chosen by God, and used by God to bring forth His plan for her life.
Moses (Royalty to Underdog)
Moses went from being raised as an Egyptian prince, having his whole life set for him in comfort, fame, and riches, but he chose to run away from his false identity and discover his true identity as an Israelite, even if it meant he had to leave his life of comfort, and walk into an unknown future. The story was not so much where Moses was from, but where he was going and where God was taking Him – out of the old and into the new.
David & Goliath (Underdog to Royalty)
From the story of 1 Samuel 16, we learn that when God looks at you, He doesn’t see your external, instead, He looks at your heart, knows your thoughts and your intentions. David may have been just a shepherd boy and the last of his brothers to be presented to Samuel, but the Lord chose him as the future king of Israel. You were created to be who you are for a reason and a specific purpose. Be the best you that God created you to be.
When it came time to fight Goliath, David trusted not in the weapon, his slingshot stone, rather in the One who was all powerful to deliver him from the enemy, and that’s when he won the battle! You were made to be fearless knowing that God is fighting all of your battles on your behalf. When you are confident in your standing as a winner and not a loser, you are able to be free to not only run, but to run the race towards your destiny without fear.
We are humans, we will fail, we will make mistakes, we will break the rules, but God will never turn His back on us. He will meet us right where we are, in the middle of our mess, and tenderly tell us, “Let me love you back to life, let me not only heal your heart, but give you a brand-new heart, because what you call a mess, I call a masterpiece, what you call trash, I call treasure, what you call sinner, I call saint, what you call forgotten, I call foreknown, what you call loss, I call gain, what you call death, I call life, what you call ashes, I turn into beauty.”
If you want to know who you are, read the Bible. Start speaking His truth and promises over your life and begin looking at yourself through the eyes of God, as His son or daughter, because He says you are:
A new creation (2 Cor. 5:17)
Have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16)
A child of God (John 1:12)
LOVED (1 Thess. 1:4)
Chosen, holy, and blameless (Eph. 1:4)
Citizen of heaven (Phil. 3:20)
Friend of Jesus ( John 15:15)
Co-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17)
God’s Masterpiece (Eph. 2:10)
Fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14)
Holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16)
A chosen race, royal priesthood, a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9-10)
The more you declare these life-giving Truths over your life, the more you'll believe it, the more you'll walk it out and become it. That's why it's so vital and important to speak the positive truths and not the negative lies that the enemy desperately wants you to believe in order to rob your destiny, to steal, kill and destroy your joy in life.
Today and everyday, dive into God’s promises and his life-giving words. Don’t get caught up in defining yourself by what you can do instead rest in what God has already done for you. And remember, God calls YOU very good! You are loved. You are seen. You are His. Give your life to God through believing in His Son, Jesus Christ and then you will truly discover who you are by knowing Whose you are.
