By Minister Moses – August 2011
“Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation” – Oscar Wilde’s uncomfortable discovery of an almost timeless truth – ‘De Profundis’ was written in the 19th century, whilst Wilde was imprisoned, and released in the early 20th century five years after his death. One hundred and fourteen years later, in the 21st century, I suspect he could write the same words all-over again and they would ring with the same relevance, perhaps even more.
In our desire to be accepted many of us spend precious time trying to please others by conveying a persona that we think is expected of us rather than who we really are or want to be. Like well-rehearsed actors we sometimes adorn the character we think our audience wants to see; we endure the self-imposed tension between what we believe and what we do, who we are and who we enact, all for somebody’s else’s benefit.
This tension has the capacity to affect and stifle our lives profoundly, influencing critical decisions about relationships, career choices, which church we attend and even our style of clothing. How many people do you know tolerate a dysfunctional and hugely damaging relationship for fear of ‘what people will think’ if they were to walk away, or endure a job that brings them no joy whatsoever because it’s the ‘safe’ thing to do? It is a tragedy that too many of us are enslaved to a way of life that deep down, we don’t even believe in. Such a state is obviously undesirable and inevitably leads to a caged experience of our humanity, a ‘sort-of’ existence.
I believe, however, that one of the most liberating and energizing things we can do is to face our values and convictions and decide to live true to them. It is for us to muster the courage and make the effort to enquire and discover our true identity in all its uniqueness and convey it unapologetically to those around us. As William Shakespeare might’ve put it, being true ‘to thine own self’ – living authentically.
And yet, is this not also one of the toughest things to do?
It begins with asking ourselves the daunting question ‘Who am I?’ Daunting as it tends to elicit answers that attract the disapproval of others, sometimes even those most dear. But such an internal dialogue and subsequent discovery also leads to vitality unequalled and opens heaven’s doors to our true God-given identity that contains within it the energy, talent and wisdom to achieve our purpose on this earth.
I’m reminded of a conversation which, in my opinion, Jesus was having as much with himself as he was with his disciples when he asked them ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?’– Matthew 16:13 (NKJV).
From Peter’s response we learn that the masses saw Jesus as John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. Ostensibly these all seem perfectly apt ascriptions but they were all people of the past, dead men!
Evidently his peers just didn’t know who Jesus was and as a result unwittingly bound him to the confines of their own limited perceptions.
I would venture as far to say that most people don’t really know who you are either. So much of you doesn’t even exist yet, your true potential and purpose has never been revealed. The only reference that people have is in what they have seen of you in your past… (invariably your mistakes). People subsequently define you by an eternally incomplete picture, not realising that God in fact sees you not as you were or even as you currently are, but as you can, should and shall be.
Notice how Jesus didn’t respond to any of the names people bestowed upon him. Dissatisfied with Peter’s initial response, he prompts him again, as if re-asking a child a question to which they really ought to know the answer – ‘But who do you say that I am?’ This time with divine perspective Peter saw Jesus afresh; ‘You are the Christ…’ he announces, not fully comprehending the sheer magnitude of his words‘…the Son of the living God’. See how this identity realised Jesus’ God-ordained destiny as the redemptive saviour of humanity, and NOT his present or past?
It takes God to reveal your true identity to you and it will always be in light of your earthly assignment, your divine calling. Dare to discover therefore your purpose and destiny in order to define who you really are, then begin to see and call yourself by that name, profession or vocation (figuratively, if not literally). Living the reality of this knowledge no matter what others think or say about it is the path to self-discovery.
Now notice how this time Jesus responds to Peter in the affirmative and in turn reciprocates by revealing Peter’s true identity; “And I also say to you that you are Peter [rock], and on this rock I will build my church…” – (Matt 13:18). What a profound calling. This, the same Peter who everyone recognised as a feisty fisherman was for the first time coming face to face with his true purpose –from here he is set on a trajectory to become quite literally the founding father of much of present day Western Christianity and the first pontiff of Rome. Who would have ever imagined? Peter, Rocky!
So my question is this; who are you?
Few around you would know so don’t bother looking to them. Look up. Look in. The ‘who’ you are, is concealed in the ‘why’ you are.
Begin to view your identity beyond the constraints and expectations of others and start asking; ‘Who do people say I am?’ ‘Who does God say I am?’ ‘What is my assignment?’
Remember, you are ‘God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do’. – Ephesians 2:10
Impersonate an imposter no longer. Live authentically. Live unapologetically. In so doing you can tap into a source of freedom, power and potential you never thought possible.
