Identity
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Lucas: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Living for His Glory podcast. I'm your host, Lucas Barrett. As a college student studying pastoral ministry, spreading the word and making disciples of all nations is my ultimate mission. I have a deep but still expanding knowledge of scripture and understand overlooked perspectives and theologies that can provide deep meaning for your life.
Sometimes I talk about these scriptures and theologies on my own, but other times I interview some people from my vast network and discuss a topic they're passionate about and their own life experiences that may help you in your own spiritual journey. Whether you're a new Christian, a growing Christian, or someone who doesn't even believe in God, this podcast is for you.
Be sure to follow and subscribe to this podcast as we navigate what it means to live for His glory. Let's get started.
What is our identity? It's a common question that we ask in our world today. ~What, what, ~what do we look for to describe our identity or to attribute our identity to?~ It's a, it's, ~[00:01:00] we attribute it to things like our profession, our sexuality, our gender,~ uh,~ whatever sports team that we root for. ~Uh, ~our actions.
But what should we look for to our identity? Is it these things? Is it one of these things? What? Is our true source of identity? Where does that come from? ~How do we, ~how do we form it? What is it truly? Is our identity that we form false? If so, what should we look for to find our identity? How do we determine who we are?
There's many intricacies involved in that question, but I have two big truths that may help us understand our unique, but also fundamental, identities. Let's take a look at a book. A book's purpose is to be read. Now, when we were kids, my little sister loved to throw books at me. ~Uh, ~
one morning when I was in the [00:02:00] fifth grade, one hit me just under my eye, and it gave me a black eye. ~That, ~this was not why a book was created. That's not why that book was created. ~It, it ended up, ~but it ended up being, a use for that book in the same way Me and you are created with a purpose in mind But like what my sister did with that book We can be used for a purpose that we were never that we were never intended for we can use ourselves For a purpose that we were never intended for but how do we know?
~So, ~that's not what the book was intended for. ~Well, ~we can probably go talk to the author, and he or she will tell us that he or she wrote that book for it to be read, not for it to be thrown. The same principle is true here for us. If we look for what our purpose is, if we want to know what our purpose is, We go to our creator.
We know that God created us. We know [00:03:00] that a lack of belief in a creator is a lack of the ability to know one's purpose. We know how to operate a car or its different features because we are given an instruction manual for that car. Without reading that instruction manual, yes, you may know how to drive it from driving school and experience, but there's a lot of different features that car you may never realize because,~ well,~ you didn't read The instruction manual.
One of the roles the Bible plays is our instruction manual. That is one of its purposes. It is our instruction manual. A large part of scripture is teaching, is about teaching us how to live. ~I spoke to my,~ I spoke with my dad about identity on Christmas Eve,~ uh,~ and how he started to think about himself differently.
This wasn't some new year's resolution. This was an identity. It's there's so much differences between that. A resolution is like it's a change in an action, but a new identity. It's a change [00:04:00] in who you are. A smile crossed my face when my dad said that he started to think about himself more and more as a child of God, which he never really did before.
Before we do anything, we must believe and understand ~that ~that one true you. Fundamental purpose that God loves us and that God created us. We are his children and he loves us. He loves us So important to remember it is the most important thing to remember. This is a core Fundamental belief that extends to every person on the planet The primary truth of identity for humanity is that they are children of God.
It is the fundamental truth that we may choose to deny or run away from, but it is still as true as the sky is blue. What's so cool about God is that while we do have certain fundamental identities through Him, He also gives us the opportunity to be unique. [00:05:00] And different. ~He has given us the, the,~ he has given us the gift of growth and change.
~Something that my dad also started thinking about with his about~ something my dad also started to think about as his identity was his identity as an athlete. ~My dad has been an athlete since he was in high school. And he's now oh ~My dad hasn't been an athlete since he was in high school. He is now a 48 year old man, and although a pretty healthy one, he's still not that, ~you know, ~training every day, doing sprints, having a coach, that mindset, he's not that anymore.
But by forming that identity, of an athlete, like he is an athletic person, he's done activities athletes would do, such as that training, that activity, the working out, the eating healthy. He has started doing those things to become a better, more fit person just because he has started to change a part of his identity to an athlete from a middle aged man.
This kind of identity separates him, not just from other [00:06:00] people, but also his former self. He's using it to allow him to grow. He encouraged me to do something similar with myself, thinking of myself as a champion golfer. By doing that, I will start to do things that champion golfers do. Because that is now what I believe that I am.
It would have become my identity, and because it is a part of my identity, I now do things according to that identity because I believe myself to be something I create evidence To be that thing that is what we do when we think of ourselves as that thing whether it's oh i'm an academic Oh, i'm not an academic.
I'm not athletic or oh, I am athletic that kind of belief system We will then create evidence To support that belief system. It's so crucial to form that identity for yourself because now you can start to form evidence that you are [00:07:00] this person, that you are this identity, and now you can grow and thrive.
Although it is important to still remember that we need to be careful about what we make our identity into. I mentioned our identity may come from whatever sports team that we root for. I myself, I'm a 49ers fan. Now, last year, I was feeling pretty good about being a 49ers fan. Now, not so much. I have yelled at the TV my fair share this year, but thankfully, although I say, hey, I am a 49ers fan, this is the team I root for and is not a core fundamental identity.
That's why it's so important that I laid out that core fundamental identity as a child of God, ~as a, ~as a person that God loves and that God created first. That is my core fundamental belief. So that now. Whatever identity I have as a 49ers fan, yeah, it sucks that my team isn't doing well, but I still am happy.
I'm still able to function throughout the week whether we win or lose because I know I'm a child of God and [00:08:00] that God loves me and that there's nothing that can take that away from me. ~Um, ~and it is, it's awesome. It beautiful knowing that the creator of the universe loves me and knows me and created me for a specific purpose.
Our actions prove what we are. A book is meant to be read just like we are meant to be God fearing, God worshipping children. But books have the liberty of being read in different tones that gives it so much diverse and extraordinary power. Just like we have the creative liberty to take the gifts and abilities God gives us to do diverse and extraordinary things.
There are things that are universally true between me and you, like we are the children of God, but things that are different between me and you, like me personally, I want to be a pastor and I want to do this podcast. Well, you guys, you may want to be a lawyer, or a fireman, or a teacher, or a professional [00:09:00] athlete, ~or whatever you may want to,~ or whatever you may want to do.
These two truths of universal and individual levels of identity combine to make something truly beautiful. We belong to God. Every personal identity should be used because of that basic fundamental identity of belonging to God and being his child. But we are still gifted that liberty to choose to be who we want to be.
As we begin this new year, Ask yourself, who have you believed yourself to be in the past versus who do you want to believe yourself to be this year and the future? ~If you still struggle,~ if you still struggle with your belief with who you are in God's eyes, Work on that first. That is the most important step in your journey.
~That, ~once you have figured that out, then you begin forming these beliefs about personal success and identity to [00:10:00] shape what kind of person that you will be. I'm rooting for you guys always. I really hope That you find whatever identity that you're chasing, that you find this identity with Christ, and that you know that, and you deeply understand that, and you deeply know and believe and understand that He loves you.
He created you for a purpose, ~and that He, ~and that He has your back, and that all He wants is, and all He craves, is to have a relationship with you. I love you guys. I really do. ~I hope you got a lot out of this.~ I hope you got a lot out of this. I hope you guys have a great day. God bless. ~DScript. Work your magic.~
Thank you for listening to another episode of the Living for His Glory podcast. I hope you gained some terrific insights and knowledge about what it means to live for God's glory and more about His character. If you enjoyed this video, please make sure to press the like button and subscribe if you want to continue watching and hear more about God and how we can live for His glory.
Have a great day, my friends, and I'll see [00:11:00] you next time.
