Dealing With Identity Crisis
From the book “The Woman Above Average”
Written by Rev. Olusola Areogun & Rev. Oyenike Areogun
The subject of Identity Crisis is a crucial one to anybody willing to discover their purpose and pursue their purpose diligently and doggedly without giving room to distractions. In the book of Exodus Chapter 3, we find that Moses had an encounter with God, and it is important that everybody should learn from the encounter if he or she is not going to die a ‘copy’ of what or who God made him or her to be – if he or she is going to live and die or rapture an ‘original’.
It is a common saying that God does not have a photocopying machine in heaven, and I agree with that. A company has a slogan that says, “we taught the world to copy”, but I am saying to you that the Holy Spirit put something in my heart and blesses me. And it is that you do not need the permission of another human being to be yourself, but you need the permission of another person to be that person. For instance, you need my permission to be me because I am an original. I have the copyright. Have you noticed that you are not yourself when the person you are copying is around? However, when you are yourself, you can be yourself anywhere and be at your best. That is the problem of IDENTITY CRISIS.
Thank God, God does not have a photocopying machine in heaven. Everything He does is original. Even with all the anointing, impartation and church membership, we still retain our individuality and uniqueness.
God calls men according to His purpose. God calls, elects and places us according to his own purpose for us, not according to somebody else’s idea. Exodus 3:10 makes us understand that God called Moses according to His purpose for him.
“Come now, therefore I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel out of Egypt.”
In the preceding verse, God described the condition of the children of Israel in Egypt, how He chose them as His people and how He introduced Himself to Moses as “I am that I am“. God now made Moses understand that He created him to be a deliverer of the Children of Israel. In verse 11, Moses said something that most of us say when confronted with Divine Destiny’s claims upon our lives. Moses said, Who am I? that is an Identity Crisis, and you cannot fulfil your destiny until you know yourself. You just keep on trying to be somebody else. You will keep on thinking somebody else is better than you or more favoured by God than you, but understand that God saves, calls, ordains and places people according to His purpose. You will keep on batting with yourself when the claim of Divine destiny is confronting you. This is not just an inferiority complex. An Inferiority complex is a product of Identity Crisis. Fear, failure, refusal to obey God are all offspring of Identity Crisis.
Jesus said, “you call me Teacher and Lord and you say well, for so I am.” (Jn 13:13). Jesus knew who He was, and he began to wash their feet. Until you know who you are, you cannot serve people. It is somebody who is secured in who he is that can serve people. As long as you have not discovered who you are, you will feel service is humbling and degrading. People who pretend to be what they are not have not discovered who they are. You do not have to ‘act’ to be yourself. When you are trying to be what you are not, you get into Drama and Acting. Life is not a stage like someone once said, where people are all acting their parts. You are not here to live your life by the permission of anybody. You did not come out of your mother’s womb by the permission of somebody, so you do not need the permission of anybody to live and become somebody. You must never have anybody in life whose permission you need to be yourself. The problem of identity crisis must first be settled if you are going to agree with God’s purpose for your life and not try to make it something else.
What Do You Generally Understand About Identity Crisis?
Every item gets its identity from the maker. The chair does not name itself; the Carpenter does. Adam did not name himself; God did.
The identity of something is always related to the purpose of the Maker in making it. The discovery of the purpose of a thing will bring about the recovery of the identity of that thing. Understand that things are named after their purpose, and until you discover the purpose of a thing, the identity will be lost. The potential of anything is always connected to its purpose. Identity, purpose and potential are linked together.
Ask yourself the following questions to solve the problem of an identity crisis:
1. Who made me?
Understand that identity is always related to the maker. Your father only gave you a nomenclature–identity, that is, a name, a surname, but that is not your true identity as far as God is concerned. Your identity as Mrs A or Mrs Y is not your genuine identity. The question of
“Who made me?” will solve every problem of inferiority complex, competition and the act of trying to be somebody else. It will even affect the way you dress. Some people do not respect their own dressing, their sense of fashion or their sense of creativity. It does not mean you do not listen to others but don’t submit your identity to somebody else.
2. What did He make me for?
Moses suddenly discovered the purpose for which God made him, and he knew that the next time he would meet Pharaoh, there would be a difference. Pharaoh was not going to see the same Moses that ran away from him. Pharaoh was to meet a man who knew who he was in God and on earth.
3. Am I myself or somebody else’s idea at present?
Many people live their lives daily trying to please somebody and seeking the opinions of somebody else on who they should be. Are you a doctor because your father wanted you to be one? Or because that is what was implanted in your heart? Are you a teacher because that is the course you could pass? Many people today are just caricatures. People do not seem to remember or know “general people,” it is only “specific people” who have discovered their identity that are recognized. Nobody remembers somebody’s face in the crowd. People that are pursuing destiny and divine purpose cannot be hidden in the crowd. Trying to hide yourself is like trying to hide the sun during the day or trying to hide the moon during the night. If either one tries to come out at a time not meant for it, it would be hidden. The sun was created to rule the day, while the moon is to rule the night. Every human being has been created to rule some portion of life. When you come out when and where you are not supposed to come out, you do not rule and something else rules.
4. Am I living for the reason for which He made me?
What are you living for? Are you living purposefully?
5. Am I doing things that daily contribute to the reason for my being?
Are you investing your time, energy and resources in things that are relevant to the fulfilment of God’s plan and purpose for your being?
