"Identity Crisis" is a label often applied to folks who find themselves in a life-turmoil. The term nominally applies to folks who're having a tough time "figuring out their purpose and where they fit in the Universe."
Who Am I? Where am I going? What is my ultimate purpose and why do I matter? Those are the kind of questions typically associated with adolescents, to folks in their teens who've just had their first glimpse of Real Life and who're apt to feel perplexed, helpless and uncertain of themselves and of their ability cope with new situations and dilemmas.
But an Identity Crisis can also occur in folks who've just experienced a life-changing crisis ... like the death of a child or spouse, an abrupt divorce (after years of apparent happiness and stability), a sudden "termination" from work, a loan default followed by home foreclosure, a physical malady requiring a painful "surgical procedure" ... or even because of very small things, like the joint paint that lasts more than a week, the glimpse in the mirror that reveals sagging skin, the first gray hair or the the indisputable proof of a receding hairline.
Oh man, what's happening to my life! I'm getting OLD!Life has a way of pitching curve balls over home plate ... and all too often, the curves start coming just as we're feeling ready to knock the next pitch out of the park.
Who am I ... and how could this happen to me? What did I do to deserve it?---
How do I know God exists? How can I keep focusing on Christ and reject the importance of the "real" things in life like love, money, security, prestige, fame or material possessions, and put my faith in an invisible Creator?
The answer might not be easy, but this illustration is indisputable: any man or woman enduring the most painful, traumatic, life-changing series of events in their life need only walk away from their old life, surrender themselves to God, beg his forgiveness and accept Christ as their Savior
and that man or woman will receive salvation, eternal life and the forgiveness of every sin.God is that powerful, that just and that merciful. The proof is that God loves us more than we can comprehend. Speaking of "real life," imagine how different the outcome would be if you'd just been fired ... and then confessed to your boss everything you'd done wrong every single day of your life, surrendered to him (or her) and begged for a fresh start from the beginning?
Imagine if your home was in foreclosure and you marched into your loan officer's office, threw yourself on the floor and begged for the bank's forgiveness? Would you receive forgiveness and an eternal extension ... or just a prison detention?
The reason we keep making bad choices based on WHAT I WANT, and then run full-speed into brick walls and damage ourselves, is because we forget how much God loves us.God
is real, and only through Christ can we receive the grace, forgiveness, Salvation, purpose and identity that
lasts.
---
Who am I? Nothing. Truly. I am lost, worthless and condemned without Christ.
But please don't miss this:
So are you.
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This is one of my favorite quotes, and if I had 50,000 words I couldn't add anything to it:
"Many people are trying to define who they are by a position or a title. Position or title will never satisfy your soul or define who you are. We must define ourselves by who we are in Christ alone." - Jake Beaty
