Identity Crisis, Pt. 1: The Dilemma and the Definition

I remember searching for some way to define myself as a teenager. “Sister, daughter, friend,” I would journal. I scoured Google for a perfect career, entertaining the potential of being a journalist, flight attendant, counselor, or nurse. It’s normal, this searching, this looking for meaning and purpose. The attempt to fit into different titles, or make different titles fit us.

I wanted the approval of other people. The recognition that I was good at whatever it was I was supposed to do for the rest of my life.

I wanted an identity.

Then, maybe, I would be safe from disapproval, protected by education and achievements.

It was a long time before I realized this was a desire I had, and even longer before the tendrils of people-pleasing began to loosen their grip.

Not everyone struggles with this, but everyone I’ve met has, at some point, wrestled with their identity. If my generation’s question was “what is my purpose,” the next generation seems to be asking “who am I?”

Many educated voices attempt to answer why this plagues Gen Z. Personally, I think Jefferson Bethke is on the right path with the decline of family and lack of coming-of-age rites so present in other cultures.

Another component to the conversation is the sweeping attempt to erase truth. Phrases such as “your truth,” the culture’s insistence that whatever idea a person possesses should be met with nothing but affirmation, and the belief that to disagree is to hate has permeated the subconscious of nearly everyone.

So where do we go from here?

Perhaps we should start at the beginning. According to Christian tradition and primary source documents (the Bible), God created out of nothing. He created the heavens and the earth, filled the sky with the stars, moon, and sun, and the earth with plants and animals.

One way of thinking about this is the “kalam cosmological” argument, which says this:

1. Everything that begins to exist, has a cause.
2. The universe began to exist.
3. The universe has a cause.

Scientists agree that the universe does have a beginning. But the big bang is not a cause, because something would have had to cause the big bang in the first place. God, however, is eternal. No one ever made God, and He is self-existent. So, the universe’s cause for beginning could be nothing other than God.

What is a human?

After God created the universe, He created humans. He created the first man (Adam), and gave him work to do – tend to the garden God created. Then, God created the first woman (Eve). God Himself performed the first marriage ceremony, telling Adam and Eve to “be fruitful and multiply…and have dominion over…every living thing.” (Genesis 1:28)

In Genesis 1:27, the Bible makes clear a certain distinction humans have compared to animals and plants: they are created in the image of God. What does this mean, the image of God, or the “imago Dei?” It means we share a likeness, or similarities, with God. (This does not mean that humans are God; there is still in place the clear creature-Creator distinction Paul talks about in Romans 1.) For instance, we possess a sovereignty to govern the earth, even as God is sovereign over every single thing, including humans. Humans imitate the love of God, but God is love. We have wisdom, but God is all-wise.

Humans have two components, if you will. The physical body, which perishes, and the spiritual soul, which lives forever. This is unique to the imago Dei, too, because God is spirit.

Both men and women are made in the image of God. We are equal in value, but distinct in design and role.

Why is the imago Dei important?

This definition of humanity is crucial to the Christian worldview because we operate from it in everything we do. We love our children because they are made in the image of God. We love our enemies because they, too, are made in the image of God. Godly bosses treat their employees well because their employees are made in the image of God. 

Imago Dei assigns a God-given value to every single human that cannot be vanquished, no matter how hard evil tries. If you rest in the knowledge that you are made in the very image of God, you will be unswayed by false accusations attacking your worth. In a culture that attempts to do that in every way it possibly can, the definition of imago Dei offers the beginning of a paradigm shift.

Because we’re made in the image of God, does that mean we’re perfect?

Although we see that God has given humans value, we are still often trapped in shame and guilt. How can this be?

After Adam and Eve were living in the garden God created, they disobeyed God – they ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The consequence of this sin is that humankind became sinners with a corrupt nature. Because of this fallen nature, we could no longer be in communion with God because He is perfect.

However, God put in place a rescue plan. He sent His perfect, only begotten Son, Jesus, to earth to be the sacrifice for our sins. His sacrifice casts our sins as far as the east is from the west. Humans only have to choose to receive the gift of this salvation, but once we do, our identity is changed from “sinner” to “saint.”

Does that mean we will never sin again? Unfortunately, no. But the Holy Spirit works in us for the rest of our lives to sanctify us, which means to make us more like Jesus. Christians are saints who sometimes sin.

This is the only way to be truly free from guilt and shame. The love of God is the only path to peace.

By trusting the Creator with the definition of “human,” we can also trust Him with the expression of “human.” We’ll be examining some of those expressions over the next few weeks.

With grit and grace,

Whitney