He was an executive who had risen to the top of his field. A limousine picked him up each morning at his downtown penthouse and dropped him off at his office building, top floor, corner office with the private secretary. He was a mover and a shaker and did well in his career. He was respected within his industry as an innovative leader. Then retirement came. The office was cleaned out, the limousine stopped showing up at the door, and casual clothing replaced the finely tailored suits. Crisis set in, along with the question … who am I?

When he related this story to me, he added, “my identity was gone. Who I was, all that I had was built around what I did and what my position and my title gave me in terms of identity.” It took some time, but he eventually came around and found that his identity was broader than just his position or what he accomplished.

The world will tell us a lie about who we are and what our identity is tied to, whether it be our job, education, or the material things we have obtained. One author stated, “the lie tells us that our identity is predetermined by the voices around us, including culture, gender, family, tradition, government, or tribe. We reject that lie that we can find our identity and purpose in any other place than an intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ.”

When we as believers are tempted to believe the voices and the lies that tell us what determines our identity, we must go back to Scripture. Paul wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Our identity is found in Christ. Whoever we were, whatever we did in the past, good or bad, has been replaced. We are a new creation. Our identity is wrapped in Christ; we are His.

The voices are loud in our culture today. Some seek to determine our identity based on false relativistic paradigms or human achievement that ultimately determines our worth as individuals. However, the cultural movement of self-identity is more destructive, where we become gods and self-determine who we are and our destiny based on human ability and shifting cultural ideals on humanness. We need to rise above the noise and see our true identity and value. Each of us was uniquely created in the image of God, so loved by God that He sent His one and only son to restore us to a right relationship with Him through Jesus.

We may be tempted to listen to the voices of culture, relativism, and self-identity; they are loud. Instead, we must rise above the noise and find our identity in Christ. We then can share that hope, the good news of our identity in Christ with a lost and hurting world that often only hears the other voices.

A new creation in Christ!

Rev. Bill Allan
AGC President

Above the Noise: Who Are You?