Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
I was at a point in my life a couple of years ago, when I had to admit that there was something wrong with me and I needed insight into what exactly it was. So that particular year, I asked God to show me why I was a certain way and why I did what I was doing. I was amazed at the revelations that came. I began to see why I had certain negative habits and why I was thinking a certain way. Inasmuch as I have made some progress because there are things I no longer do, I’m still on a journey. There are still things I have to deal with because you don’t expect to change within a short time what you used years to build.
The Identity crisis is what I decided to title this excerpt. From the key scripture above, we can see when the identity problem began. After man’s fall in the garden of Eden, there has always been a falling short. Sin never left man the same because we fell so hard from a height of glory and an identity of the image of God to personalities of a lower class and rank. Ever since that time, every human viewed themselves not from God’s standpoint but what the devil deceives them with. In these last days, the issue of mental health related issues have been amplified. There are more rates of suicides, depression, anxiety, panic attacks, personality disorders and trauma now than there has ever been.
There are three dimensions of health, namely;
Physical- How is your body doing?
Spiritual – How is your spirit doing?
Emotional/Mental – How is your soul doing?
Unfortunately, the church has not given much attention to emotional and mental health. Nevertheless, research has proven that people who have a spiritual life are less likely to be as affected as those who do not. It’s not that they won’t have such feelings but how they deal with those feelings would be better. Why is it important to look into mental or emotional health?
It impacts:
- Your view of yourself – how you see yourself will in turn affect the choices you make in life.
- Your relationships – who becomes your friend or who you marry is linked to your knowledge of who you are.
- Your reaction to life’s challenges – wrong or right reactions will depend on your capacity.
In a nutshell, your view of yourself is the identity you give to yourself. This is where self-esteem comes from. Many of us have developed an identity based on what others have said about us. In Genesis 3, where we see the fall of man, God asked Adam who told him what he had come to know. This means when every child is born, they come with a clean slate. The parents, guardians and immediate environment of that child will write something on that child’s slate. The first man and woman fell because of something the serpent told them. Every identity crisis begins with a word you hear. For some people, you were told you are not beautiful. Others were neglected and rejected. Some were told they weren’t good enough. And for all the things I mentioned earlier like depression, anxiety, personality disorders, they stem from something you heard.
For example why would someone want to commit suicide? They went through an experience and that experience had a voice telling them there is nothing valuable in this life so end it. I was once suicidal because I failed an exam and it wasn’t just about the failure. It was about how people would see me because I was known to be intelligent. Many times we define ourselves by a certain reputation and once that thing is no more, we feel there is nothing more to life. Ever heard of people who lost money, a job, etc. and ended their lives? It’s because they built their identity around those things and not on God. We must build our identity on God and His Word because He never changes. Any other person or thing you build your identity on is not eternal. If your identity is built on your marital status, you get depressed because you are not yet married. And if you do get married and lose that person or the marriage, your life ends. If your identity is built on a job, the day you are laid off is the day your relevance ends. Some people have their identity rooted in the money they have. That’s why they keep spending on clothes, shoes and bags to impress others because in their looking good, they portray they are of a certain class. Look good for yourself and not because you have people to impress. Let me give one other instance that is a reflection of an identity crisis. This is going to be hard to say but indulge me. When a person is still confused about their gender, that’s an identity crisis. The reason the world today is saying we have an uncountable number of genders is the confusion the devil has created. The devil would try to make what God has said a lie. So God makes them male and female but the devil says gender fluidity.
Jesus’ temptation in Matthew 4 was an attempt to question His identity. In the last verse of Matthew 3, a voice from heaven said ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ Then after that, the devil comes to say If you are the Son of God, turn this stone to bread. God just literally said this is His Son but the devil would always come to question what God said. He did same to Eve. Did God really say you shouldn’t eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? So the root of every identity crisis has to do with the absence of a strong conviction of what God said about you. That’s why the best way to reply the devil in his quest to deceive is using the Word. That’s what Jesus did by saying, It is written. However, the average believer today doesn’t read the Word let alone meditate. It is through meditation on the Word we are planted. Planted means firmly fixed that you can’t be easily deceived. Read Psalm 1:1-3. The reason people today easily fall for the devil’s deceit and are depressed is because the Word is just in their head not spirit. Meditation is the vehicle to get the Word to your spirit. Reading the Word just creates an awareness to your mind.
There is a deeper side to this identity crisis that I don’t want to go into. This is the basic aspect of it because I’m still on that journey to discovering me so I can’t speak on something I’m yet to master. The conclusion of everything I’ve stated so far is that getting to know who we are from God’s perspective can curb greatly the identity crisis. And how do we know ourselves without knowing God?
The Word In Clarity 