Identitiy

Everyone is seeking an identity. Many find it in what they do, their job and career. Some find their identity in another person and family. Other find identity in churches or clubs. The Majority find their identity in fantasy, wither it be devised from Hollywood or Hallmark Channel. From movie reels to Renaissance Faires, people are seeking an identity. The Entertainment industry has a majority of people finding their identity in fiction. Many flock to movies, play video games, and evne listen to music to escape and build their identity around this escapism.

Many Christians are part of the demographics (demongraphics) who spend their time building identities at work, in wonderlands like Middle Earth, and so on. But should Christ followers find their identity in what they do or like to do? Should our identity come from our career and the comic book characters? The answer is no. Our identity should be found in Jesus Christ alone. Everything around us is a lie. To use pop culture to make a point, the identities we seek in our jobs and hobbies are The Matrix. This desire to put ourselves in our work or the whimsy of words like The Avengers is not from God. This escapism is a system created to keep people from going to Jesus and making them just content with drugs.

All of it is a drug. Workholism is a drug. Those worlds like Narnia, Middle Earth, Halo, Marvel Universe, DC Universe, and so on are drugs. They drugs meant to dull the minds and hearts of disciples and keep them delusional rather than deeply discerning. Its escapism and instead of escaping we should be surrendering (submitting) to God (James 4:7). But the devil and the people of this world working for him are busy keeping everyone "plugged in" to the Matrix. Many will not be able to break free of this world and work; they will continue to build a kingdom in sand and never reach who they are suppose to be in Christ, because they care more about their comfort in their careers and comic book fantasies.

It is not easy to escape escapism. The webs are thick and seek to entangle us all in entertainments and empire building. I sincerely believe the entertainment industry is built on Mammon, for it takes money to make the entertainments, people then pay to see the entertainments and have to work harder to get more money to keep chasing their fantasy. Jesus said, "you can serve only one of two masters, you will love one and hate the other, you can serve God or Mammon." (Matthew 6:24).

The crisis is identity. People get identities from work and wonderlands. I once was a crusader, at renafaires everyone knew me as the Templar. I was Jedi, in the days when I wore monk like cape and lightsaber on my belt. I found comfort and a sense of control or power in my diversions. Those worlds made me feel safe, strong, and important. What I knew about them, the intricacies and lore gave me a sense of identity. I was called the Movie buff, Jedi Master, the Medievalist, and so forth. I even invented terms for my scholarly and deep devotion to these worlds; I created  Ardaian, which was beyond Tolkienite and Ringer (Lord of the Rings) fan; it denoted that you loved Middle Earth so much, you knew its actual name of the world and read the other books like The Silmarillion.

I have tasted workaholism. I found it a comfort in ministry, wither it was for the non-profit or this blog even. I felt that if I was distracted from my problems by posting or working on the non-profit website I could evade the negative feelings. In truth, I had just exchanged one fantasy for another, wonderlands like middle-earth for working excessively.

The temptation to find identity in what we do and the things we are interested in is a strong force today. But Jesus Christ must be our identity, He must pervade and invade every part of our lives. The time will come for many to caste aside the things they have been using to stay delusional and in denial with. Wither it be work or wonderlands, the time will come to wake up from both and find identity in Jesus alone. The Apostle Paul said, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like child, but when I became a man I talked like a man, and thought like a man. But when I grew up I put away childish things." (1 Corinthians 13:11), Many adults are still hanging onto childish things. Many people revisit the nostalgia and seek to cling on to those things from their past. But this is folly, for living in past ruins the present and future. It keeps us from growing up and becoming what God intends for us to become.

In the end, St. Paul put it best, when he compared everything of this world; the work, the fantasies, and other causes, he responded, "I count everything as loss but knowing Jesus Christ my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider those lost things as garbage. that I may gain Christ." (Philippians 3:8). Paul's words should echo in our person, that everything of this world should be counted as lost but knowing Jesus Christ intimately. This includes church. This includes religious acts. This includes our passions, our hobbies, our pastimes, our recreation, our desires, and etc. Even the gifting God has bequeathed us, wither they be writing or wonders such as miracle gift (1 Corinthians 12). Those should be counted as lost in comparison to knowing Jesus Christ. There is another verse that says, "The Lord gives and He takes away." (Job 1:21). We often believe that Jesus will let us keep doing the good thing and even the God sanctioned thing for as long as we live. In many cases He will let you keep teaching, preaching, writing, speaking, building, analyzing, critiquing, and etc. But what if the Lord takes it away? Will you still remain faithful and follow Him? What if you must "deny yourself," to the point of losing what gave you an identity, a income, and importance? You can never lose Jesus Christ if you continue to follow Him daily, nor will He leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:6).

But anything that you find identity in other than Jesus Christ can be challenged and taken. Are you an author, an actor, an artist, a airplane captain, a animal vet, and etc? If you identity and sense of worth in those things can be interrupted, for God will not let you as Christian find satisfaction in them solely. Our Lord gives us gifts, talents, abilities, skills, and passions for a reason, He wants us to use them. But if we dare to try and be the icon, made in the image of something else and be only farmer, rather than the Father in Heaven's Son or son or daughter of the Most High, then God shall shake our world up. He does this so that we may not waste our time seeking an identity in passing things. The Prophet Isaiah said, "the grass withers, the flower fades, but your Word O Lord, will never pass away." (Isaiah 40:8).

Our Identity must be in Immanuel (Jesus Christ) and in nothing else.