Identity

I’ve written about identity before and where we find our identity including finding it in our jobs, our possessions, our family roles, etc. We have all been warned of the dangers of using these things to establish our identity, as a kind of idolatry.

There’s another side of this that I don’t find discussed very often: how the lack of something can also become an identity, a jealousy idol.

Occasionally I hear someone say things like: “well I don’t have (fill in the blank) like all of my (friend, coworkers, neighbors, etc.). I’m not (wealthy, talented, etc.). I don’t go on fancy vacations.” All of the same topics that can define our identity have a mirror in the LACK of those same things defining our identity. And both can lead to idolatry.

Comparison is present in both scenarios and both compromise our ability to see ourselves as the Beloved of God. Our only lasting identity comes from God. Not what we own or don’t own, whether we are married or single, have family or don’t, are an entrepreneur or an employee, travel to foreign countries or to the local state park.

I’m sure you get the idea. Beloved.