Who am I — a well-known athlete, a celebrity, a computer whiz, a CEO, a renowned author? We all have dreams of the direction we want our lives to go and the goals we hope to achieve. Many have found that place where they excel and gain their special identity. They each feel like this is “Who I am” and “Who I want to be.” Others can’t seem to realize their dreams, feel insignificant and wonder just who they are and what their purpose in life is. Sometimes, they even resent those who have found a name for themselves.
The truth is that careers, high positions and social and economic statuses will all eventually end or just fade away. Old age, retirement, unexpected financial losses, health deterioration and any other unforeseen circumstances can all suddenly change your whole life, leaving you feeling like you no longer have any identity or self-worth.
For believers in Christ, the “Who am I?” was settled a long time ago. It never changes, never fades away and never ends. Let’s see what God’s Word tells us:
• I am His creation. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb… My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place… all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalms 139:13-16 NIV). There is no one else like me and you.
• I am chosen. “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit…” (John 15:16).
• I am saved by grace. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Eph. 2:8).
• I am forgiven. “…Everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name” (Acts 10:43).
• I am free from condemnation. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1).
• I am a new creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (II Cor. 5:17).
• I am a child of God, and I am loved. “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God…” (I John 3:1).
• I am an heir and co-heir of God and Christ. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory” (Rom. 8:17).What a heritage!
• I am God’s temple. “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?” (I Cor. 3:16).
• I am an overcomer. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?… No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom. 8:35, 37).
• I am confident that I and all believers can “approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Rom. 4:16).
So there you have it. Our identity and self-worth are not bound up in the standards of the world that leaves us hanging, but rather in our relationship with God. We are special in God’s eyes and answers the question: “Who am I?”
