Are You Having an Identity Crisis?

Psalms 8

Jim Davis

Many are experiencing what theorist Erik Erikson called an identity crisis. He believed it was one of the most important conflicts people face in healthy development. 

Have you ever questioned your own identity? Today many are unsure of their role in life.  An identity crisis is a time of intensive analysis and exploration of different ways of looking at oneself. 

In the sixties the Esalen institute in California was one of the nations leading laboratories of the human potential movement. At the Esalen Institute a series of intense human explorations got underway. It was a hands-off gathering place for social outlaws experimenting with LSD, Eastern meditation and in-your-face encounter groups. They sought to explore and expand themselves as they challenged traditional beliefs and values. 

It was a place where yogis gathered to live in animal skin yurts mediating as they were breathing and bending to deepen their awareness of their Divine Inner Self.  Artists gathered painting mandalas of doves, dolphins and goddesses which they believed to be unconscious expression of one’s true self. Others gathered lounging around on pillows as they sought to interpret one another’s dreams in an effort to unlock an understanding of self.  (Teresa Watanbe http://articles.latimes.com/2004/sep/05/magazine/tm-esalen36)

This mainstream movement for self-potential and self-identity has faded over the last five decades and has given rise to a new surge of self-identity. Initially, the movement begins with self-discovery. Over the past five decades the self-discovery method has given way to claiming an identity of our own choosing. 

Researcher James Marcia believes the balance between identity and confusion lies in making a commitment to an identity. First we must determine who we are and make a commitment to it. Once we choose an identity the natural outcome is that we begin shaping our lives around our chosen identity. We contemplate our looks, our money, our possessions or our jobs. We seek to identify with Hollywood models; we choose designer clothes to image self.  

Looking back through old family pictures is comical. You see how you dressed twenty years ago. The social identities we chose seem silly today. Notice how young people are wearing pants down around their knees. How silly will they think this looks twenty years from now? 

It is all about defining ourselves. Plastic surgery is doing wonders today. We can enlarge it, shrink it, alter it, reassign it or just simply delete it. Whatever identity we commit to we can change into it. There is a National Gender Identity Clinic in London, which oversees many seeking gender reassignment. 

BBC News headline reads: “An American man who was born female but subsequently underwent gender reassignment has given birth to a girl, US media have reported. Thomas Beatie, 34, is legally male but kept his female reproductive organs after having breast surgery to remove glands and flatten his chest.”

Mr. Beatie had the baby but is determined to be the baby’s dad rather than the mother. I can only hope the child is not as confused as I am. Thomas wanted to be a man, but kept all his/her reproductive organs because someday he wanted to have a baby. It sounds as though he still has an identity crisis. He’s reassigned, enlarged and deleted some of his organs to become a male, but wants to retain his/her ability to have children. He wants to be the father of the child rather than the mother. 

It took nine doctors and a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy before Beatie became successfully pregnant. He wrote that it felt "incredible. Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man I am. In a technical sense, I see myself as my own surrogate, though my gender identity as male is constant."

Our True Identity

Change is the buzzword of the day. Even the church of our Lord is having an identity crisis. She is seeking to redefine herself through the traditional or the contemporary. Often erroneous points of doctrine become the defining characteristic of a group. One can only wonder if the kind of change we seek holds us back from real change. Before contemplating the beliefs of one group or another it is imperative that I understand my place in it all.

Those coming to Christ in the first century came to grips with their identity. 

1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9 Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. NIV

Jesus never laughed at the homosexual, male prostitutes—sinners. This is what they were—of course some were having difficulty shedding their chosen identities for real change. This is what the book of First Corinthians is about. Paul really sums up the problems of the Corinthian church in these verses. They failed to forge beyond the self chosen lifestyles to allow God to recreate their lives into the image of Christ.

Jesus wouldn’t laugh at Thomas Beates. He would simply help him reclaim his God given identity. Amazingly, Jesus didn’t go to Rome to protest the gay movement—which was actually in full swing among the Caesars and rulers of his day. He didn’t go to Rome in an effort to legislate morality. He began his ministry simply winning one heart at a time. He simply invited them to reclaim their God given identity. He washed them. He sanctified them. He justified them as they turned from their false identities to embrace the salvation he offered through a relationship with God. 

The psalmist peers beyond the starry sky as he contemplates his place in it all.

Psalms 8:1-9
O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory 
above the heavens. 
2 From the lips of children and infants 
you have ordained praise 
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger. 

3 When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place, 
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him? 
5 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings 
and crowned him with glory and honor. 

6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet: 
7 all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field, 
8 the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas. 

9 O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth! NIV

The psalm is attributed to David. Perhaps he contemplates this psalm as a young boy out in the pastures as he guards his sheep through the night. Perhaps he is lying on a grassy hillside. In the darkness of night he peers into the starry host. Shooting stars streak the sky. He observes the heights of the established order in heaven. In worshipful mediation over the breathtaking view—he asks. What is man? What are we doing here? He is only a shepherd boy, but he concludes he has a God given place. God is mindful of him. He sees his place on earth as the crowning act of God’s creation. He is lower than angels but crowned with glory and honor. The psalmist cries out, “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” 

His mind is undoubtedly drawn to these scriptures as he peers into the heavens. 

Genesis 1:1-5
1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. 

3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day. NIV

Genesis 1:14-19
14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning — the fourth day. NIV

Genesis 1:26-28
26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

As David peers into the heavens he is sure of who he is, why he is there and how he got there—by the works of God’s hands. He understands he bears the image of God. This is his identity. The only difficulty he seems to have with it all is how did God bestow such glory and honor upon the weakest of his creation. Why would he choose to manifest his power through the weakest of his creation?

David seeks to discover his place in the universal order of everything—he was discovering himself. He went beyond his own mind to discover he was in the mind of God in creation. He is lower than angels; crowned with glory and honor. The honor God bestowed upon him in creation is far beyond any identity he could create for himself. He shares in the glory of God as he does the work of God—herding sheep.

Psalms 8:6-8 
6 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
you put everything under his feet: 
7 all flocks and herds,
and the beasts of the field, 
8 the birds of the air,
and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas. 

The psalmist understands from the eternal order that he has a very unique place in the universe. His species has dominion over all earth’s resources. He has the capacity to rule  over the earth—over flocks, herds, beasts of the field, birds of the air, fish of the sea, all that swim in the vast oceans. This is his God given identity.

The psalmist not only sees himself in the earthly dimension. His life has an eternal dimension. He peers out beyond the sun, moon and stars. He sees the God beyond time and space. The universe and everything in it is a work of his hands. The eternal God has placed him in a position a little below the heavenly beings, yet, crowned him with glory and honor. 

The culture, the dress or the job which enshrouded David was merely the backdrop to his earthly life. None of these defined his identity. He saw his life against the backdrop of all creation. His life went beyond a self-imposed identity. He sought to accept the fact he was created by God to be who he was. The defining moments of his life was when his heart was in tune with God’s heart.

The psalmist cries out, “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” If an eternal God created us. It means we have an eternal purpose in his plan. The psalmist asks, “What is man that you are mindful of him . . .?” He feels dwarfed in the scheme of creation but sees himself as the crowning act of all creation. 

Throughout the psalms the writers are contemplating their place in it all. 

Psalms 103:15-16
15 As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field; 
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more. NIV

Thousands of years separate us from the psalmist, but we feel the same. We have the same longings. We know we will wither and die. Yet, we recognize our place of dominion on earth as we contemplate the grandeur of it all. This dominion is a God given place of honor. No higher honor exists among God’s creation. The momentary nature of our lives is overshadowed by an eternal glory. 

Why Are We Having an Identity Crisis?

Why are we having an identity crisis—we are LOST!! We have lost a true sense of our identity! We have lost a sense of who we are, why we are here and who gave us the place we occupy. Jesus came to seek and save the lost.  

Salvation history emphasizes our kinship with God. Jesus was begotten of God. His favorite title for himself was “son of man.” Run the reference through a Bible concordance. It may surprise you. Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, but he was born as the son of man. 

Jesus came to help us reclaim our kinship with God. Jesus was not only the son of man; he was also the Son of God. The religious leaders took issue with Jesus when he was referred to as the Son of God. But essentially Jesus told them they were also sons and daughters of God. 

John 10:33-36
33 "We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." 

34 Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods '? 35 If he called them 'gods ,' to whom the word of God came — and the Scripture cannot be broken— 36 what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'? NIV

Jesus references psalm 82. 

Psalms 82:6-7
6 "I said, 'You are "gods";
you are all sons of the Most High.' 
7 But you will die like mere men;
you will fall like every other ruler." NIV

The psalmist sees the rulers of Israel as “gods” who were given the responsibility of ruling in God’s stead on earth. God has conferred this exercise of power upon the rulers. As his delegates they bear his image as they rule in his stead. 

2 Chronicles 19:4-7
4 Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the LORD, the God of their fathers. 5 He appointed judges in the land, in each of the fortified cities of Judah. 6 He told them, "Consider carefully what you do, because you are not judging for man but for the LORD, who is with you whenever you give a verdict. 7 Now let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Judge carefully, for with the LORD our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery." NIV

The story of Joseph reveals how he was promoted by the Pharaoh of Egypt. He is second only to the Pharaoh. He bears the pharaoh’s signet ring to give the Pharaoh’s stamp of approval on his decisions. There was no one greater other than the Pharaoh himself. Do you know why Joseph was so successful? God was at the center of who he was—he never lost his identity with God. 

Genesis 39:6-10
Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7 and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!" 

8 But he refused. "With me in charge," he told her, "my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. 9 No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God ?" 10 And though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be with her. NIV

Joseph was sold into slavery and served a seven year prison sentence for something he didn’t do. A world of pain was forced upon Joseph. It had so altered his appearance his brothers had no clue they were dealing with Joseph. When he revealed himself to his brothers they were afraid. 
Genesis 50:19-21
19 But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. NIV

Joseph sought to understand the glorious position God had given him.

Genesis 41:50-52
 51 Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, "It is because God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household." 52 The second son he named Ephraim and said, "It is because God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering." NIV

It makes no difference whether we are herding sheep or ruling as kings and queens, we rule in God’s stead—we are God’s children. Whatever happens in our lives God uses it to mold us into his image of us. This is the glory and honor God has placed upon each person on earth. The best way to honor God is to fill your place on earth as you are filled with the fullness of God. Paul prayed to this for the Ephesians.

Ephesians 3:17-19
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. NIV

Christianity is about God resurrecting God’s creation to the identity he gave each of us in creation. He is seeking to restore his image upon our hearts as he fills us with his fullness through Christ.

Colossians 2:9-12
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. NIV

We are made in God’s image, but the image is distorted when God is absent. Baptism is not a religious ritual. It is the place where God stamps his image on our hearts anew as he sends the Holy Spirit into our hearts to recreate us into his image (Acts 2:42). It is the place where a penitent sinner gives self over to God. It is the place where God spiritually circumcises our hearts as he cuts through the sin in our lives layer by layer to allow his image to shine through. 

Conclusion:

Ian Usher sold his life on Ebay. He wanted to move on to a new life. He went through a divorce and found it hard to move on. So he decided to sell his old life, i.e. everything—house, cars, motorcycles, clothes, memorabilia—literally everything he possessed to the highest bidder. He’s seeking a new life. His life sold for $328,000 he wanted $500,000. It shouldn’t amaze you that someone bought his “old life.” Apparently, the person who bought it was also looking for a life.

What Ian Usher is doing sounds a little ridiculous, but it is akin to what we must do to reclaim the identity and kinship we have with God.

I don’t know what my life would bring on EBay. I do know what it is worth in God’s order--the price of his only begotten Son. 

Luke 9:23-27
23 Then he said to the crowd, "If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow me.  24 If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for me, you will find true life.  25 And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose or forfeit your own soul in the process?  26 If a person is ashamed of me and my message, I, the Son of Man, will be ashamed of that person when I return in my glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels.  27 And I assure you that some of you standing here right now will not die before you see the Kingdom of God." NLT

Remember James Marcia said the balance between identity and confusion lies in making a commitment to an identity. First we must determine who we are and make a commitment to it. Identifying with God through Jesus Christ is a commitment to an identity with eternal consequences. It is a commitment to God’s original intent for our lives. We can choose to work hard at creating our own identity or accept the one God gave us in creation.