Ask me who I am.
In the short bio for my website, I give a brief answer to this inquiry. “Dr. Suzanne Montgomery is a Family Physician, Mom, Author, lover of gardening, hiking and Jesus (not necessarily in that order).”
This is by no means a complete inventory of my identity. Instead it gives a narrow snapshot view of those particular characteristics I see as important. This bio conveys the ‘me’ I want the world to see, not the true ‘me’ that only God knows.
In reality, you and I consist of a mixture of traits both good and bad. We try to hide the undesirable parts of our personality but they keep peeking through. Each of us carries labels given by others as well as those we place on ourselves. These identities form some of the baggage we bear throughout our life.
Over time this baggage grows heavy. We become weary attempting to carry it all. Then some sort of crisis occurs and we’re forced to make a choice. Circumstances strip away much of what we thought made up our identity: our job, our status, and even our appearance. If all these external definitions vanish, what or who remains?
The characters in the film “Overcomer”1, face this dilemma. When a major employer in their small town closes, their dreams and aspirations dramatically change. Coach John Harrison struggles with this shift until he meets Thomas, a man who lost his vision to diabetes but found something of infinite value in the process. As he lies in a hospital bed on dialysis, he tells John, “When you find your identity through the one who created you, it will change your whole perspective.”
In his letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul wrote, “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”2
When we find our identity in Jesus as children in God’s family, all labels fall away. My occupation and social status don’t define who I am. Whether you belong to another race or culture isn’t important any longer for now you are my brothers and my sisters. Through Jesus we claim a new identity that doesn’t depend on external circumstances.
Ask me who I am. Ultimately, I am a child of God. Nothing more. Nothing less.
1Overcomer-2019 drama produced by the Kendrick Brothers and Provident Films
2Galatians3:26-28 NIV
