Why Finding Our Identity in Christ Is So Important
By Movieguide® Contributor
Dr. Josh Straub explained how Christians can find their identity in who the Lord made them to be rather than who the world says they are.
“If we don’t know who we are, we tend to find our identity in three places,” Dr. Straub told Candace Cameron Bure. “We either find [our identity] in what we do, we find it in what we have, or we find it in what we think other people think of us.”
“There’s something even deeper than knowing that you [are a son or daughter of Christ],” Dr. Straub continued. “When you look at Peter, he was known as the rock, James and John were sons of thunder. Like, there’s an identity that we’re given, I think, by God that is unique to us to carry out our purpose in this world.”
By no means is this purpose easy to identify, and it can even change throughout our lives, but when we place our identity in who God made us to be and in the purpose He created us for, it is much easier to be rooted and unshakable.
Dr. Straub suggests that Christians turn directly to God and ask Him what they made them for in order to understand their calling. In doing so, it gives the Lord the opportunity to speak directly into our lives and guide us on the path He plans for us.
“I was praying the other week, and I was asking the Lord, I was just saying, ‘Lord, can you just show me; make sense of [my life]… Silence the enemy, quiet my thoughts and give me the mind of Christ, and believing that you just answered those three prayers, show me what I need to know,’” he said.
Dr. Straub believes that if Christians constantly turn to the Lord and ask Him for wisdom and guidance, he will lead the way and help them find what they were made for.
“There’s something about each of us that’s so unique, that only God could us as a puzzle piece put in us…” Dr. Straub said. “I think for so many of us, we just kind of go throughout our lives aimlessly and just not knowing…so I’ve asked Jesus a couple of times where I’m like, ‘Okay Jesus, show me who I am.’”
Bure has spoken about where she finds her identity in the past.
“My identity is not first republican or democrat. But in Christ alone. I pray for God’s healing hand over the United States of America,” she posted to her Instagram Story in 2021.
Her identity in Christ has impacted her career, too.
“My faith is just my life, it’s a part of it. It naturally flows from me and I feel like I’ve navigated my entire career differently than most people have,” she said in 2019. “The goal for me isn’t necessarily the next project or making more money or being a bigger star. I’ve always chosen the things that are true to me and that I’ve wanted to do.”
“I just can’t not be who I am,” Bure added.
Movieguide® previously reported on identity:
Grammy-nominated Christian artist Matthew West opened up about the hot-button theme of identity in his latest hit song “You Changed My Name.”
“Are we not in a world right now that is completely obsessed with identity–and, moreover, with taking the power into our own hands to create and recreate our identity?” West said. “And this song is just a powerful truth that you are who God says you are.”
The song describes the transformative spiritual life found in Christ (“You changed my name, from too far gone to saved by grace”) and tells the believer, “I don’t have to answer to any name but chosen child of God.”
West added, “There’s something about the false promise of social media that people can create this whole identity that’s not even them. We’re catfishing ourselves.”
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