Identity For New Years.
Identity has been heavy on my heart for a while now. With society’s growing mental health issues and dissatisfaction in life, finding our identity seems to be hard to come by. I have even spoken publicly about finding our true identity, conveying the importance of being grounded in the Lord.
Yet People, including myself, have found their identity in various other things throughout the years. From work to sports, being a mom to where you live, the list goes on. None of these things are bad in any sense except when you don’t recognize that none of this is who you are. They are just circumstances in this life. Events we found in 2020 can be stripped from us at any moment. Realizing and identifying the purpose of this life is far more important than the awards you can get here on earth.
Now at the beginning of 2022, people are cautiously optimistic that this year might be better than the last two.
Maybe it will; I can’t tell you that.
What I can tell you is that you’re supposed to count it all as Joy. No matter how extraordinary or crummy our circumstances are, we can never let it take away the Joy that God allows us to hold on to in even the toughest of times.
The good, bad, and indifferent all mold us into the good work God is doing.
Philippians 1:6 ESV~
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”
You, my dear friend, are a child of the one true king who is responsible for creation. He chose to create you, started you on your path. He alone is your identity. You will not find it in a New Years’ resolution. You will not find it in your next self-help book.
It is simple yet challenging for us to wrap our brains around.
Do not use anything less than God to water down your identity to something less.
It often baffles me that people in the Bible would be in jail or threatened with death, and still, they proclaimed the good news God has for you and me. As a young adult, I would regularly ponder if I would have been strong enough, courageous enough, to proclaim God is good if I got locked in a jail cell or if my head was about to be chopped off. Could I be this strong? I am grateful that though this life has been far from easy for me, I have not been put to the test in that manner. God calls us all differently, yet the same. We all need to find comfort in God, follow His word and teachings, and be fishers of men.
When we lose the calling of this life and get distracted by the material things, we can lose hope in our circumstances because circumstances are fleeting.
God loves you. Even on the darkest days, hold on to the truth of His Love and let it guide you.
This year may have been another challenging year.
You may be broken-hearted.
Maybe you got challenged to your capacity.
You may have lost people or jobs or dreams of what you wanted.
Friend, hear my heart – you are not the sum of any of those things.
God has better things in store for you.
This life’s hardships are not who you are.
As you make this year’s New Years’ resolution, make it to see your true worth in God’s eyes. Don’t waste your time measuring yourself by the standards of the world.
Make a goal to work on seeing you as God sees you, His daughter, who was beautifully and wonderfully made in His image. Seek to spread the good news that Christ died for our sins, rose again, and is seated in Heaven next to the Father.
Find your identity in your Father in Heaven. To be grounded in the peace that God has.
This year let us ground our identity in knowing Jesus as our Savior.
With Joy!
Jenny Cioto with Pursuing true North
