Greater

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

Background

For a very long time, I struggled with the question, “who am I?”

For some, this question brings on a lot of anxiety, and I can understand why. More recently there is additional fixation on this question than ever before. There are so many ways for us to compare and overanalyze the factors that make us, us.

Beginning with the external us, we have social media playing a narrative on repeat - what we should wear, how we should accessorize, what milestone we should reach, and who we need to be sharing it with.

When I’ve asked myself this question casually, I have a sense of knowingness for who I am - like my name, height, weight, birth state, favorite food – all of those sort of identifiers.

As I am approaching 30, I’ve seen more emphasis placed on other forms of identity such as vocation, socioeconomic status, and education. It’s really as if we are walking resumes and cover letters, ready to spill our elevator pitches at hello.

Working internally, things can become even more complicated.

There are mantras for everything, and you can discuss almost anything with just about anybody. Opinions are so readily available; I sometimes feel like it’s impossible to truly sit in silence in a room on our own because of the million voices shouting at our fingertips. What’s worse is when “who am I?” becomes a pertinent question, we may feel ill-equipped to answer it, even with all of the information, sources, and voices up for grabs.

Deep Dive

Still, all of the factors abbreviated above don’t necessarily get at the core of our beings. Isn’t it amazing how we can deliberate on what makes us a success, more likeable, sexier, more ideal, and never truly get to know the essence of ourselves. How is this even a thing? Yet, it happens all the time. Have you ever chatted with somebody that gives all of the answers they’re supposed to give, the politically correct ones? Or maybe you’ve encountered the person who repeats everything trending, and by the end of the conversation, you wonder, did they actually feel that way, or was that just regurgitated?

Maybe you’ve been that person once or twice before. I believe we all have.

So why is this all important? Can’t we say that life would be just fine if we never truly knew who we are destined to be? Can’t we just get by? The answer to this is question isn’t an easy one, because in reality, there are two answers. If “yes” is our choice, then, nobody is really stopping us. We can go ahead and go through life without any real sense of identity. But if you’ve ever related to the feeling of a shirt that is just a little too tight, yet, if you squirm enough every few minutes, you can make it work, then you have come upon why no is also a formidable, and possibly, the better answer.

A Greater Sense of Self

You see, in 1 John 10:10, we find out that Christ came for us to live life more abundantly which sort of eludes that there was an abundant before the abundant-ever-after. In my mind this also means that life as we know it would change for the better. But hidden in this scripture is another underlying implication that is a little intimidating, in my opinion. If we could have an abundant life on our own (arguably), then we would know ourselves in that life. But if Christ came that we would have even more abundance, then there is a reality of self that must also be graduated.

Now, here we have Galatians 2:20.

“My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So, I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

More evidence for this continuum of self-actualization. In this verse, I see that there is an old self which means there must be a new self. I recognize that that the old self that I know so well is not even alive anymore, and this new self is actually Christ himself. Then who does that make us now that Christ is alive in us, while we are still technically alive here on Earth? The next part of the passage explains that the only way to live with this duality of nature is to trust in the Son of God, the same Son of God who loves us and died for us.

So, what does this all mean for our concept of identity? Because I’m not sure if I missed it, but I don’t see anything about a PhD, bitcoin, marriage, hair bundles, or even the fancy concept of “flourishing”.

All I see when it comes to an identity of abundance is one that is identical to Christ’s.

 If this is true, then there’s only one way to get there, and that is through surrenderance. And historically, this is nobody’s favorite word.

The definition of the word, surrender, is “to yield something”, and “to give up oneself” (Webster) which falls in line with our theory for who we need to be for an abundant life. Interestingly, our notion of surrender directly deals with the second definition of the word, “to give up oneself, as to the police” (Webster). Any time I’ve had to surrender, it’s been in intimidation and often met with an apprehension for the unknown, for life after that one thing I hold dear is gone away.

But as we’ve affirmed in the past, our whole lives are rooted upon the relationship with God being intact. We draw from it. It guides us. It makes us who we are.

 And if this is true, we can rely upon this relationship to guide us to a greater sense of knowing ourselves as we come to know Him entirely. We can surrender.

A limited series on identity

I am so excited to explore this question, “who am I”, from the origin of surrenderance. Let’s take away the anxiety and stress that comes from measuring up, self-centered self-fulfillment, mistakes, and pitfalls. Let’s keep the promise of abundance and interact with the idea of showing up in our relationship with God through a greater sense of grace and purpose.  

Let’s get to know Him. Let’s get to know us.