How Do You “Prove” Your Identity?

What do showing up at an airport for a flight, getting pulled over for a traffic stop, and arriving at a polling location to vote have in common?

In each situation, you need to show some identification.

But how do you “prove” your true identity? Driver’s license? Passport? DNA test? Birth certificate? Social security number? Username and password?

Those things can help confirm your name, address, and other personal information, but they don’t really explain what makes you YOU?

None of those “identifiers” communicate the unique combination of characteristics and convictions that combine to make you who you are.

So… what is your identity ultimately based on? How do you know? Who decides?

Do you know who you are?

How do you explain yourself to someone else?

An “existential crisis” is defined as inner conflict based on the impression that life has no meaning or confusion about one’s personal identity. Are you confused about your personal identity?

In a recent survey, almost half (46%) of Gen Z Americans said they feel like they’re living a “double life” between their “online” and “offline” selves. And 53% of Gen Z respondents said it’s easier to express themselves “online” than “offline.”

For some people, life has become “public performance”… focused more on appearance than substance… emphasizing “image” (who people think you are) over “character” (who you really are).

It’s vitally important to know who you are and what you stand for. And regardless of your circumstances, it’s up to you to choose what your life will be about. Don’t let your “sense of self” be determined by other people’s choices or opinions.

Your identity is the “foundation” of your life.

Understanding who you really are is the key to almost everything else. Your attitudes, actions, and reactions emerge naturally from your true sense of self.

The crucial first step is deciding that your identity will be based on your new, redeemed, Spirit-led nature rather than your old, fallen, sin-led nature. For followers of Jesus, our sense of identity must be grounded “in Christ.”

Our church has embraced the image of the Psalm 1 Tree to help illustrate what following Jesus looks like. Our goal is to produce fruitful believers who are influencing their world for Christ. That starts with basing your identity in Christ!

Psalm 1 begins with the word “blessed,” which means productive, thriving, and flourishing. “Blessed” describes a strong, stable, fruitful tree planted by a river. And the foundation of all that health and vitality is the root system. Your identity is the root system of your life.

The book of Romans offers insight into basing our identity in Christ. “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ” (6:11). “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ” (6:23). “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ” (8:1).

Embrace These Truths.

As you choose to live out your identity “in Christ,” embrace these truths…

“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9).

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 1:20).

So… who are you now?