Made on Purpose

HOW TO LIVE OUT THE IDENTITY DESIGNED FOR US

It all started in kindergarten. Like many, I was fed the message that I could be anything I wanted to be when I grew up. For someone who has a tough time choosing their favorite food, deciding what and who I would be was a monumental task. Having so many options seemed like a good thing until the threat of making the wrong choice peered back at me in the mirror. Anxious thoughts plagued me: “Should I follow my natural talents?” “What social group do I fit in?” “What if I’m antisocial?” “What if what I choose doesn’t work out?” “Will it be too late to start over?” The list of questions, as well as the pressure, only multiplied from there.

I’m willing to bet I’m not the only one. Formulating an identity and making something of ourselves is deep and daunting. Whether we take a traditional approach or rebel against the status quo, we feel the burden of getting it right. Thankfully, I’m not left to fend for myself, and neither are you. Jesus invites us to surrender what meager identity we’ve created in exchange for the one He established for us before the world was made.¹ We’d be foolish not to take Him up on it. Hear me out.

SCRAPS OF WHO WE ARE

Our identity is like a cut-and-paste collage, and many pieces make us, us. One mammoth-sized part of identity often placed in the center is education. Our choice to attend community college or a four-year private school says something about us. The program we choose also says something in the way a biology major assumes a much different persona than an art major. We make our education choices based on our interests, sure, but also because it comes with a certain status. Another part of our identity is the carefully crafted version we curate for social media. We intentionally present what will garner the most likes and shares. And, it doesn’t help that algorithms pick up on this and push our interests back at us. Consuming agreeable content is addicting to the point that it becomes contrary for the brain to view anything else. According to NBC News,

Essentially, processing new facts, ideas, and perspectives requires actual neural effort. In other words, it forces our brain to reconfigure its web of connections to understand, assess, and potentially incorporate the new knowledge it’s being exposed to. In that sense, it’s a neural bias to conserve energy, and hard to overwrite.²

Therefore, we are stuck in a cycle of displaying only what we want others to see and taking in only what we want to see. There is very little room for content or people that challenge who we are. Though we champion diversity and a variety of opinions, our social media use betrays us.

Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with education and social media. They are merely two examples of a never-ending list of things we gather to formulate our identity. Trouble comes, however, when we put too much hope in what can and will change. Admit it—it doesn’t take long to encounter life’s unpredictability. Discovering this fact of life at a young age throws us off, and it’s easy to lose our I’m-determined-to-achieve-my-goals momentum. From the perspective of psychotherapist Tess Brigham, we enter a quarter-life crisis:

A quarter-life crisis comes about when you’re faced with the reality that your life is not what you thought it was going to be. It’s an emotional crisis of identity and self-confidence. You’re faced with the feeling that maybe you’re not being true to who you are, but you’re not quite sure who you’re supposed to be, either.³

Ironically, we enter young adulthood assuming we’ll find ourselves, but if we’re not careful, we become as lost as ever. Keep reading if you resonate with the quarter-life crisis and the search for true identity.

CONSIDER THIS

Thankfully, there is hope because Jesus understands the struggle. He intentionally left His perfect position in heaven and came to earth to love, serve, and save us, His enemy. Many people who interacted with Him thought He was absolutely foolish because of His authority and mission. Jesus was told what He should do and who He should be, yet He never wavered from His Father’s plans. Everything He did was according to God’s will, even His death. Therefore, Jesus is our example to follow—that we, too, would form our identity around what pleases God, not what pleases others or even ourselves. Being a Christian in the 21st century does not mean taking on a brutish attitude that is morally superior to everyone else. Rather, it means humbly belonging to a group of other believers where you can experience God’s truth and love. The Bible compares the church—the local and global collection of God’s people—to a body. The diversity in the body correlates to the diversity in the church. God uniquely designs us to operate in a unique place within the context of the church. The Apostle Paul underscores the value each of us has, whether weak or strong:

But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body…So, God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.⁴

If life feels out of joint and you don’t know what your purpose is, perhaps it is because you are not involved with and connected to a biblical church. God’s desire for each of us is that our identity would be cemented in Him as part of His body of believers.

SEEING THE BIGGER PICTURE

The topic of identity spans back to the beginning of time. Yes, that beginning. During the world’s creation, written about in Genesis, God said, “‘Let us make man in our image, according to Our likeness” (1:26, NKJV). Rather than any other created being, God chose humans to reflect Himself. This means that we have emotions because God has emotions. We are creative, intelligent, nurturing, innovative, loving, and humorous because God is those things. Regardless of our life circumstances, we all have inherent dignity and value because we were made by the same supreme God.

We are creative, intelligent, nurturing, innovative, loving, and humorous because God is those things. Regardless of our life circumstances, we all have inherent dignity and value because we were made by the same supreme God.

Being God’s creation is significant because He wants to relate to us. God not only wants a relationship with man in general, but He wants a relationship with you in particular. His foreknowledge and love for you go way back. According to Ephesians, “He [God] chose us in Him [Jesus] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself” (1:4, NKJV). God knows our identity and we f ind it by living in relationship with Him. He as the master blueprints. He formed us, and chose us before we had any say in the matter.

Our priorities shift when we choose to follow Christ and trade our old identity for the new. Author Sara Barratt explains,

Culture understands purpose mainly through the lens of external success… But look at purpose through the lens of a biblical worldview and the perspective diametrically shifts. Scripture offers us a life purpose far beyond the transient things of this world: to enjoy and exalt God in all of his glory and to spread his glory among all people and nations. This isn’t a purpose we select for ourselves, but it’s one we either accept or reject from God’s hand.⁵

That’s just it. We can accept this new identity and purpose from God. Or not. If we’d rather keep working on the hodgepodge scraps of our self-made identity, He’ll let us. Maybe we’ll need to try adding a few more pieces before we realize that it’s not eclectic, it’s a mess. Through it all, God is incredibly loving and patient. Even in our rebellion, He kneels to our level and extends His arm to draw us close.

Unfortunately, I can’t go back to tell my kindergarten self all I’ve learned about life, but I can tell you: Give up trying to be somebody and instead cling to Jesus with all your might. This is God’s story, you are His artwork, and you were made on purpose, for a purpose.

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10

¹ Ephesians 1:4

² nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/problem-social-media-reinforcement-bubbles-what-you-can-do-about-ncna1063896

³ forbes.com/sites/ tessbrigham/2021/03/24/managing-a-quarter-life-crisis-in-the-midst-of-a-crisis/?sh=3fe6b6046393

⁴ 1 Corinthians 12:18 527, NLT

⁵ thegospelcoalition.org/article/graduatepurposenotplan/