Instead of asking what we should be doing, we should ask who we are supposed to be.
I want to begin this article by stating that identity is, was, and always will be the core foundation of life. All of our actions and expressions, in this life and the next, are deeply entangled with our identity.
The life of the Christian begins only when we understand who we are in Christ. Within this identity is the answer humanity has longed for since its conception: What is my purpose, and what should I be doing to fulfil it? The answer however, lies in another question. Instead of asking what we should be doing, we should ask who we are supposed to be? Because who we are determines what we do.
Hidden within everything’s identity is its purpose. If I call something a chair, its function is to be sat on; if I call something a cupboard, its function is storage. What if I told you that you were made in the image and likeness of God Himself?
“Let us make man in our image, after our likeness”. Genesis 1:26–27
This is not merely something said about you; it is the foundation of your identity. But what does it truly mean to bear the image of God? How should that shape the way we live, and where do we begin?
True self-knowledge begins with knowing God, because we can only understand who we are by first understanding the One whose image we bear.
This article does not attempt to explain every detail of your identity, nor could it ever cover the subject in its entirety. There is simply too much depth to explore. Instead, its purpose is to awaken a desire within you: a desire to know yourself more deeply and, ultimately, to know God more fully, for “this is eternal life: that they may know You” (John 17:3). I am simply trying to point you towards the God who loves you, who created you, and who gave everything so that you might share in a relationship with Him (Romans 8:32).
Right, enough of the introduction. I want to consider our identity in two phases. This is not because our true identity ever changed, but because our understanding of it gradually deepened. As God revealed more of Himself to humanity, we came to know Him more fully. And the more clearly we came to know God, the more clearly we were able to understand and receive our own identity…
We are God’s creation
I have already spoken about being created in the image of God, an immeasurable blessing and an eternal privilege in itself. Yet there is even more beauty in details of our creation! Think about it: Everything else was spoken into existence, but humanity was formed with a unique intimacy. God breathed the breath of life into us. We were not merely called into being; we were personally and lovingly brought to life by God Himself.
Origen had this aspect of creation in mind when he observed that the Lord, having made each other part of the universe by means of a word (“God said… and there was”), on the sixth day made man, uniquely, with his hands: “The Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).Bishop Erik Varden
This gift of life, and this identity we receive as His creation begin to answer the first great question: what is our 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
But is that all? Of course not.
Ask yourself this: would God take such care in creating someone simply so that they could perform a task? Did He create the sun to give light to the day with the same care, thought and love with which He formed each one of us?
Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You.
For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvellous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skilfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
Psalm 139:7-16
Need I say more? Probably not. But I will.
The focus, then, is not simply on what we do, but on who we are.
1 Peter 2:9 reveals something profound about our identity, an identity rooted in the image of God within us. We are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation”.
We are image-bearers and, therefore, bearers of a God-given identity. Our calling is to live out who we already are: people created in the image of God. Like prophets and priests, we are called to bring God to others and to bring others to God. This is not achieved merely through what we do, but through who we are becoming, as we grow from bearing His image into sharing more fully in His likeness.
Everyone who is called by My name,
Whom I have created for My glory;
I have formed him, yes, I have made him - Isaiah 43:7
But what is the purpose of all this? It can be summed up in one word: relationship.
Not just any relationship, but the most loving, secure and intimate relationship we are meant to experience: the relationship between a parent and a child (John 1:10–13). God did not create us merely to serve Him, but to know Him as our Father and to receive our identity as His children.
This brings us to the second phase of our identity.
We are God’s children
To them gave he power to become the sons of God - John 1:12
This verse reveals the greatness of Christ, our Lord and Saviour. As we saw in the previous section, He is our Creator, and therefore the Lord of our identity. When humanity lost sight of that identity through sin and disobedience, it did not cease to exist. To lose something does not mean that it is destroyed, only that it becomes misplaced, obscured or hidden. In Genesis 3:7, we see this identity covered beneath the shame brought about by sin.
And so Christ came not only to save us from sin, but to restore us to who we were created to be. He came to recover our true identity by saving us!
And in Him, when we receive Him as our Lord and Saviour, we also receive the saving work of His love and begin to become what we were always meant to be.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him 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, according to the good pleasure of His will. Ephesians 1:3–5
This is why Christ reveals God to us as "Our Father.”As I said at the beginning, our identity has not changed. Rather, the more God reveals Himself to us, the more clearly we come to understand who we are. Put another way, the more we open ourselves up to receive Him, the more God can pour in!
In other words, from God’s perspective, He has always been our Father, and we have always been the children He created for Himself. Isaiah declares, “But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand” (Isaiah 64:8).Likewise, Isaiah 63:16 proclaims, “You, O Lord, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.”
Yet this was not always how we saw Him, nor how we understood ourselves. Sin left us with our understanding darkened and our hearts blinded, alienating us from the life of God (Ephesians 4:18). That is why, through Christ, we are given new hearts. God promises, “I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them” (Ezekiel 11:19–20), replacing the hardness within us with a heart capable of knowing and responding to Him. Our understanding of our identity is deeply rooted in the heart, for,“as he thinks in his heart, so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). As our hearts are renewed, we begin to see God more clearly as our Father and ourselves more truly as His children.
The question, then, is this: what did God place within our hearts to renew them, transform them and bring them to life? He gave us His Spirit.
It is through the Holy Spirit that we discover our identity as children of God and receive the assurance that this identity is truly ours. We have received the “Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father.” And it is “The Spirit Himself” who “bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:14–16).
And so we have come full circle, back to God, the One in whom our identity is found. In Him, we discover the fullness of who we are, both as His creation and as His children.
My hope is that, now this foundation has been laid, each of you will feel inspired to continue discovering the depth and intimacy of your own identity in God. As He reveals more of Himself to you, He also reveals more of who you are. So go. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7–8). Pursue the God who promises that, when you seek Him with all your heart, you will find Him (Jeremiah 29:11–13).
This is the invitation before us: a life of purpose, a life of meaning, and a life rooted in identity and relationship with God.
Written by
Romans Soldier
