Finding Myself in Jesus
By Erica Ingraham
The other day I was sitting at my orientation for a psychiatric nursing clinical.
We were getting a tour of the hospital’s psych unit and the instructor was going over basic different types of patients we would be caring for in there.
Beyond this was quite the broad range of reasons that people may find themselves in a psych unit; a myriad of crises they may be going through. Patients who had suffered losses in life – whether the loss of a job, a spouse, a child, or a friend. It may have been a death or just a separation.
Maybe their innocence was violated as they were raised; abuse had come from someone they should have been able to trust.
Whatever the cause, could we put ourselves in their shoes for just a moment in time and feel empathy with them? Could we meet them where they are and help them to see where their thought processes took a wrong turn? Could we lead them back to the path of mental health?
My instructor told the story of a man who was forced to retire after years of faithful service at his job – not because he wasn’t good at what he did, but because they wanted a younger man who could work twice as fast.
They gave him a plaque and a party and then let him go. He never got over it because that was his life. It was his identity. If he wasn’t Joe the ___(fill in the blank), then who was he?
Some people spend their whole life building an identity, a job, a career. When they lose it, it can feel like the death of a close friend. My own mother once expressed to me that after she retired, she felt like she had gone through a grieving process.
As I thought this through, I realized that these people had somehow lost a piece of who they were, something that identified them. Some even lost hope for life, because they felt that if they couldn’t have this part of them, then there was no point in living or moving forward.
In the natural course of life, we will all experience losses. Sometimes we lose things that helped to establish our identity and now we must transition to a new way of living without it.
As I listened to these stories, I thought: They have lost all hope, but with Jesus there is always hope. With Jesus, all things are possible. If only they had their identity secured in Christ!
Identity is all of the things that make us who we are: our beliefs, physical attributes, personality, and cultural background. It includes your country of citizenship: your official ID that allows you access to the benefits and services provided by your country and sets you apart as a national group.
It is perception: what we think of ourselves and what others think of us; the things that we value as important or not.
Identity is a sense of who we are, our worth or value, and our purpose in life.
If we are not careful, we can view ourselves only through a worldly lens – finding our value in what the world regards as worthy.
If that is the case, we can feel we have lost our worth when the world no longer sees value in us. An identity crisis can be triggered when a major life change or transition causes a time of confusion or uncertainty of one's self.
We need to remember we are just passing through this world. Our real citizenship is in heaven, as Hebrews 9:9-10 tells us: “Abraham dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise, for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
So many things in life can be uncertain; there is no guarantee of success. There is only one assurance in life, and that is that we will all eventually die. But if we have put our trust in Christ, we can have full assurance that we will live again.
When my identity is in Christ, I am a citizen of heaven with full access to all of the benefits of that divine citizenship. The only person who can take my citizenship away is me, if I decide to leave and forsake it.
When my identity is in Christ, when I stand before God, it is not my sins that God sees, but Christ’s righteousness. I do not have to be afraid; I can go boldly before the judgment seat of Christ.
When my identity is in Christ, I can know for certain that God will use every situation for my good – the good, the bad and the ugly (Romans 8:28).
I don’t have to worry about tomorrow or the basic necessities of life because I know God cares for me and He will provide all my needs – not because I am good, but rather because He is good.
Our worth is not determined by the world. It is determined by the fact that we were made in the image of Christ. It's not defined by what we can accomplish or by our personal qualities, but rather in our faith of what Christ did for us.
Even our past sins do not define us, for if we are in Christ we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Our identity, then, is not found in how I perceive myself or in how others perceive me, but rather in how my creator God views me.
He created me with a purpose and considered me worthy enough to send His Son to die for me so that I can walk in a right relationship with Him (Romans 5:8).
If one door has closed in my life, or if I have lost an important part of my life and I am still here, then there must be another purpose ahead that God still has for me.
In this life we may wear many different hats: Spouse. Parent. Friend. Career. Ministry. Each may add to our identity, but if they are our sole identity, then where is our hope when they are lost?
Instead, our identity needs to be in Christ first. The very things that we work towards in this life will soon be forgotten after we're gone; the pictures and memories will fade.
C.T. Studd said if best: “Only one life, ’twill soon be past; Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
Everything in this life can be taken away from us, but no one can take our identity in Christ. It is ours for eternity.
This is the hope that gives us the courage to face the future, like the old song by Bill and Gloria Gaither:
Because He lives, I can face tomorrow;
Because He lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know He holds the future,
And life is worth the living,
Just because He lives!