“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” (Romans 15:5-7)
We all have multiple identities.
There are family identities. Fathers and mothers. Children. Sisters and brothers. Grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles. There are the adopted and the abandoned - the abused and the orphaned. Some families are very rich, some are dirt poor. Some families are very religious, others outright reject anything spiritual. Some families live on the “other” side of the tracks, others are famous just for being on TV. Some families are huge, some are very small. We all get part of our identity from our family - like it or not.
There are profession identities. Some people are lawyers, doctors, and politicians. Others are laborers, migrant workers, and sweat shop workers. Some are criminals, others are law enforcement. There are highly regarded jobs like firefighters and teachers. There are less than desirable jobs like convenient store clerk and working for the golden arches. There’s management, employed, underemployed, and the unemployed. There’s the owner of a successful company and the person who struggles with chronic homelessness. In the American culture - our identity is so closely tied to our profession that one of the first things a person asks when meeting someone new is “What do you do?”
There are gender and sexual identities. There’s the obvious: man and woman. There’s also the identity of a child. There’s heterosexual and homosexual - and everything in between. There’s confused, and mixed. There’s over-sexual and asexual. There are sexual disorders and just the plain normal average Joe/Jane. What’s normal for some might be pretty crazy for others. Morality often gets tied in with people’s sexual identity. Like it or not, we are partly known by our gender and sexual identities.
There are achievement based identities. Some are really good - like professional baseball player or medal of honor recipient. Some are really bad - like rapist or a person on death row. There are student of the month, employee of the month, teacher of the year achievements. There’s winningest coach or team, there’s second place, and there’s just plain embarrassment. There’s winners and there are losers. There are people who are defined by barely missing the field goal, or just missing the putt. There’s the “almost” people. Many of us get our identities from our achievements.
We all have a ton of identities. There are sport fans - team fans. Consumer fans (Apple vs. PC). Comic fans. Fashion fans. Movie fans. Reading clubs. The elderly. The youth. The diseased. The diet health groups. Exercise groups. The obese. Clothing identity. School identity. Religious identity. Cultural identity. Political identity. Ethnic identity. Patriotic identity. And on and on...
We treat each other different depending on our identity. In some cases, there’s great camaraderie within a particular group. We offer support, throw parties, and wear even wear clothes to show off our affiliation towards a particular identity. But there are also some serious problems with putting so much emphasis on any particular identity.
Our identity often defines the borders that we may or may not cross. Our identities can create major division - and even outright war. Our identity can make it very difficult to love people that are different. It can be a frustrating problem.
Is there any way to erase our divisions - even when they seem insurmountable?
Well, there is an identity that we all share - every one of us. It’s an identity that supersedes all others - and we often miss it. It goes above and beyond any identity we might be affiliated with - to the extreme. It’s even above just being “human.” The author of the book of John writes about it often. He constantly identified himself as simply “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” All of humanity - every person on the planet (“For God so loved the world...) - has an identity that was given to them by God Himself. The identity we inherit is of a Father who loves His children (us!) He revealed that love to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. His love - His assigned identity - crosses all borders, all arguments, all groups - all identities. It covers all.
There are those that might not know their true identity at all. There are those that know their identity but ignore it. There are some that outright deny it. There are even those that fight against it. But no matter where a person stands with God - one thing that is undeniable is that God loves all - even His strongest enemies.
What if we lived in that truth? We all have multiple identities - but what if - first and foremost - our identity of being God’s kids - came first? Way out in first. And that's how we saw each other? Our father (God) loves every one of us! Is it possible that we could love and value those that are extremely different if we truly understood, and lived within, our real identity? Isn’t that what God constantly calls us to do anyway - to love everyone?
And, if that identity came first, how would we see ourselves? How would we see each other? How would we treat ourselves and others in light of our true identity?
I wonder...
Have a great day!
Jer
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