Identity vs. Image

It’s 7am, and nowadays in the Bland household that means it’s my time to get up and hang with Jaxton,… Read more Identity vs. Image

It’s 7am, and nowadays in the Bland household that means it’s my time to get up and hang with Jaxton, my seven-week old son.  I give him his bottle and usually put on some worship music.  Frequently, I end up dancing around the living room with him while singing worship songs.  I love it.  He loves it too.  I’ve had some amazing times with Jesus and Jaxton lately.  The funny thing is that there’s a large window in our living room that looks out to the backyard, which is surrounded with eight-foot-high hedges.  Behind the back row of hedges is a one-way street where people are zipping by on their way to school or work.  The reason I mention this is that, despite the near impossibility of anyone seeing me as they speed by and glance through our near-impenetrable hedges, I inevitably still find myself mid-worship-chorus thinking, “What if someone sees me?  Will they think it’s weird that I’m raising my hands/baby while singing at the top of my lungs to God?  And, oh yeah, are my roommates still upstairs within earshot?”

Perhaps the last question is a valid one out of respect to my sometimes sleeping roommates — but that’s not the point here:)  The point is: Why do we always tend to worry so much about our image?  I’m in my own house spending time with my son and with the Lord, and somehow the thought of what other people think of me still finds its way into my self-absorbed brain.  It’s as if my alter-ego thinks it’s a Kardashian who’s being followed around night and day by a camera crew and has to constantly perform and entertain.

If we are honest, these thoughts haunt us much more than we like to admit — especially in terms of our spirituality.  Ever find yourself going to church because you know others expect it instead of out of a desire to connect with the Lord and other believers?  Or how about when you pray in front of others?  Do you say what’s really on your heart or do you robotically just stick to the safe, polished prayers you’ve heard other pray?  Have you ever honestly evaluated where your ambition to do “great things for God” comes from?  Could it be sometimes we are building and maintaining our image as a successful minister or well-thought-of leader rather than living and loving out of our true identity as a child of God?

Image fails where identity sustains.  Keeping up our image as good Christians is tiring, stressful, and ultimately doomed to fail.  As it would turn out, we’re just not that perfect.  You see, image is earned by living up to others’ expectations whereas identity is freely given by a God who defies all expectations.  Image must work frenetically to secure its future, but our identity is defined by what has already been done, enabling us to rest in an unchangeable truth.  We are who God says we are.  The end.

As followers of Christ, our spirituality must be driven by our God-given identity and not our own image-driven ambition.  As we get to know the Father, we will learn to hear His voice that speaks eternal identity and destiny into our souls, empowering us to live, love, and serve out of a place of secure identity-trusting rather than anxious image-protecting.

Jax and I were singing a song this morning from United Pursuit’s new album “Simple Gospel” that reflects the uninhibited response of someone who knows who they really are:   There’s no shame/ in looking like a fool/ when I give You what I can’t keep/ and take a hold of You.  And, yes, we were still dancing in front of the living room window as we sang.

You can listen to United Pursuit’s song “Head to the Heart” here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSol3_QZaaI.