“There are no real personalities apart from God. Until you have given up your self to Him you will not have a real self.”

-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

As we seek to answer the question, “Who Am I?” many theories might buzz around us in culture. You are your job, you are your relationships, you are what you think you are, you are how you feel, you are your sexuality, and so on and so forth. All of these lies that surround us today leave us grasping at straws and coming up short of providing truth and depth to such an important question in life. So where should we find our identity? If not in our careers, our relationships, or our sexuality (and likely many other places we should not be finding), then what is the answer? I would like to suggest that the answer is dichotomous and that this dichotomy actually fits together quite nicely within a practical understanding. Put differently, I believe the answer to our identity is actually twofold, and while one fold is complex and intricate, the other is singular and simplistic.

The first answer to our identity that I would offer up is that our identity is best equated to a jigsaw puzzle. There are many pieces of our identities, some are edges, some are middle pieces, some are blue and some are red. Some form into groups which then create a smaller image that contributes to the bigger picture of the overall puzzle, while some individually create a small image themselves. But each piece of my identity works to connect with other pieces in order to create the overall image that better defines all of the complexity of who I am. Within the jigsaw puzzle, we may find that some of who we are has become too large; maybe I need to stop putting so much of my identity into my career and invest more of myself into my family. Perhaps I have overcommitted, or conversely under-committed, my identity to my family, my spouse, my child, or my friends. The beauty in this understanding is that it recognizes the value of all the various and intricate pieces of who we are, while simultaneously understanding that they contribute to the whole of who we are. This idea recognizes that one is not defined by their career, but understands how career fits into the greater whole of the person. It recognizes that being a parent is not the entire essence of who I am, however, in this current season of life parenting may take up a sizeable piece of the overall puzzle. All of these pieces can contribute, but some may not. The goal in this understanding is to take some time to reflect on the various pieces that are me and ask with a humble heart if I have allowed any one piece to become too big, or any one piece to fall into obscurity that may require more investment of my time and energy.

The second answer to our identity is perhaps the most important lesson I could ever convey to another person. It takes all of the complexity of the topic of identity and simplifies it under one grand truth that captures both my created purpose and my hopeful future. That truth is this: We are children of God, designed by His loving hands and created with intentionality to worship and glorify Him by how we love and serve others. Psalm 139 describes this in beautiful and poetic prose:

“For you formed my inward parts; wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works: my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” -Psalm 139:12-16

In truth, you were created by God, woven together with purpose and vision, with each and every detail of who you are formed by Him. The number of your days was determined before even a single one had begun, and while you were yet fully formed, God looked on you and saw your very being. You were not an accidental or chance collision of matter and energy, you were designed and shaped by the same God who spoke life into existence and breathed out the very sun which gives us light. Your life was created by the same God whose grandeur and magnitude are incalculable, whose vision is so expansive that nothing can escape from it, whose master plan is so perfect that nothing can fall outside of his sovereignty, and whose wisdom and omnipotence are beyond comprehension. Put simply, the answer to one of life’s most confounding questions, “Who am I?”, is answered simply by stating, “You are an image bearer of the great I am.”

There is one problem with being created as an image bearer of a Holy God, and that is that you and I are not holy. We have, all of us, been broken and tainted by the curse of sin which creates an uncrossable divide between us and our maker. But the beauty of the gospel is the understanding that God crossed the divide of sin in order to rescue His people from death and bring salvation to himself. You and I are image bearers of a Holy God, tainted by sin, and rescued by Him so that we might recognize that our created purpose is to glorify and honor Him. In fact, all of creation and all of who we are in life is designed to be liturgy. Our very purpose and the answer to who we are is best understood when we can recognize that every aspect of our identity, the various pieces of that intricate jigsaw puzzle, is called to be humbly laid before the throne of a Holy God in order that it might be submitted as an act of worship to Him.

Who am I? Who are you? Who are we? We are children of God, loved more than we could ever imagine or comprehend. While we may wander from that truth, and attempt to identify ourselves as our career, our relationships, our sexuality, and many other things, those individual pieces could never capture the enormity of an almighty God. Our lives were designed with a purpose to love and serve others, and in doing so, love and honor God. Anything else we may seek to replace that truth with will fall miserably short of fulfillment, meaning, or purpose. May you live today in the reality that you were uniquely designed with forethought and intention, with divine craftsmanship that was intended to glorify and honor Him.