Identity is defined as the condition of being oneself or itself, and not another.
Identity is the thing that defines who I am, the answer I give to let others know who I am. When I meet someone for the first time, one of the first things I am asked is, "What do you do?"
As men, we tend to get a major part of our sense of self-worth from what we do for a living. We allow our careers to define us, at least where our careers take us that is.
So we put in long hours and work with relentless pursuit after the goals we have set for ourselves. For what?
Do you know what the CEO of a Fortune 500 company and the homeless guy you pass every morning on the way to work both have in common? Both men have a date with death and a standing appointment with their creator. On that day both man will stand stripped bare before a Holy and Judging God.
Who do you think really is going to win that contest? The CEO with all his earthly power and his money? Or the homeless man because he has nothing and still made it through life?
Honestly, I wouldn't want to be either one of these fellas. While I have great respect for having a great work ethic, obsession with my career can't supply me with what I really need. I have learned something in the last few months, I don't want to work my life away only to realize that I have nothing to show for it in the end. Working like that only leaves you with a neglected life and neglected people around me.
A while back a wiser man that me told me that my job, while all well and good, made for a terrible god. What he was trying to tell me in so little words was that I was ignoring what was really important in my life and that I had placed my relationship with God, my friends, and my church on the back burner for my job. I had allowed it to become the only thing that defined me. That being the "operations manager" for my location was who I was and all I was. I wish I could say that I learned this right at that moment but when God chose to reveal this to me his words were haunting to me and that shame that I felt was enormous.
Our identity should never come from what we do or don't do. Our identity should only be found in the power supplied by the Holy Spirit and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul says, "Christ in you" is the hope of glory. If I gain my sense of self from that, then eternal paradise in my ultimate reward.
“What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.” Ecclesiastes 2:22-23 ESV
Identity is the thing that defines who I am, the answer I give to let others know who I am. When I meet someone for the first time, one of the first things I am asked is, "What do you do?"
As men, we tend to get a major part of our sense of self-worth from what we do for a living. We allow our careers to define us, at least where our careers take us that is.
So we put in long hours and work with relentless pursuit after the goals we have set for ourselves. For what?
Do you know what the CEO of a Fortune 500 company and the homeless guy you pass every morning on the way to work both have in common? Both men have a date with death and a standing appointment with their creator. On that day both man will stand stripped bare before a Holy and Judging God.
Who do you think really is going to win that contest? The CEO with all his earthly power and his money? Or the homeless man because he has nothing and still made it through life?
Honestly, I wouldn't want to be either one of these fellas. While I have great respect for having a great work ethic, obsession with my career can't supply me with what I really need. I have learned something in the last few months, I don't want to work my life away only to realize that I have nothing to show for it in the end. Working like that only leaves you with a neglected life and neglected people around me.
A while back a wiser man that me told me that my job, while all well and good, made for a terrible god. What he was trying to tell me in so little words was that I was ignoring what was really important in my life and that I had placed my relationship with God, my friends, and my church on the back burner for my job. I had allowed it to become the only thing that defined me. That being the "operations manager" for my location was who I was and all I was. I wish I could say that I learned this right at that moment but when God chose to reveal this to me his words were haunting to me and that shame that I felt was enormous.
Our identity should never come from what we do or don't do. Our identity should only be found in the power supplied by the Holy Spirit and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul says, "Christ in you" is the hope of glory. If I gain my sense of self from that, then eternal paradise in my ultimate reward.
“What has a man from all the toil and striving of heart with which he toils beneath the sun? For all his days are full of sorrow, and his work is a vexation. Even in the night his heart does not rest. This also is vanity.” Ecclesiastes 2:22-23 ESV
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