On The Journey Toward Reclaiming my Identity

I was on a business trip, it was 3:30 a.m. and I simply had to pick up the phone and call my wife. I had just finished reading a riveting story of a young Jewish man's identity struggle, My Name Is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok. I too grew up in an isolated religious community the middle child of seven, six boys and a girl, with a father who coached basketball and a mother who taught music. Identity issues were rampant.
All of us live with a deep-rooted need to belong that stokes the fires of a relentless identity search. As a young person, I tried to establish my own identity by being funny, radical and likable. As an adult, I linked my identity to my business success, accumulation of material goods, leadership at church. Our culture attempts to tell us who we are by defining who is the best, the strongest, the smartest, the most beautiful. We depend on other people, something outside ourselves, to name who we are. And it seems that we never hear the affirmation we long for.
We were created in the fullness and completeness of a God relationship that radiated His presence, an infused identity of being loved. Jesus Christ, through the power of His death and resurrection, offers us the restored inner certainty that we are loved. In being open and receptive to Love, we claim our true identity.

by Steve Imbach