Living Changed: IdentitySample

A False Identity

Life is full of struggles. I struggled for the first 25 years of my life with feelings of inadequacy. Daily, I found myself comparing who I was and what I did to everyone around me. I didn’t know it, but I was living with a false identity. It’s this false identity that is at the heart of so many of our struggles.

A false identity occurs when we attach beliefs to our lives that don’t come from God. Beliefs such as “I am a failure” or “I am undisciplined.” When we believe and live from anything other than the truth of who God created us to be, we are living with a false identity.

I loved God and His Word from a young age, but I failed to understand the confidence and power available to me through Him. When I went to college, that truth came alive. Instead of being words on a page meant only for the people in the Bible, I came to understand that I, too, had been created with a steadfast identity. 

I didn’t quite know what to do with this newfound truth. Why had I forfeited confidence for insecurity, power for timidity, freedom for fear, and peace for anxiety? Why did I let others dictate how I felt or acted? 

Slowly, God met my questions with answers. He revealed how, even though I believed His truth, I had grounded myself in moveable things such as money, people, and approval of others. Things that left me susceptible to accepting and believing the lies spoken to me by peers, authority, society, and even myself.

Any area that is not surrendered to or lead by God’s truth is an area that will be overtaken with a false identity. This false identity eventually consumes large parts or all of our lives. We end up living with fear and doubt, failing to grasp that we were created with God’s strength and power. It leaves us searching for people’s approval or looking to things to fulfill us. 

If and when we start to believe we are who God says we are, we can overcome our inner struggles. There is a life free from guilt, doubt, fear, and inadequacy waiting for us.

Is there an area of your life that is not surrendered to God? 

Can it be traced back to doubting who God created you to be?