Permanent Markers: A Hands-on Family Devotional of Spiritual Life SkillsSample

Identity: Who Do You Think You Are?

Play:

Give each person a deflated balloon. When you read the statements below, everyone blows air into their balloon if the event would make them feel more valuable. Or lets the balloon deflate if it would make them feel less valuable.

Ready?

● Out of your friends, you’re the best at something.

● Someone says you’re good looking.

● You trip and fall in front of someone you’re trying to impress.

● With a joke, you make everyone laugh.

● You fail an audition or tryout.

● You make your parents proud.

● You tell a sibling to do something and they do it.

● You try your hardest at a project and totally fail.

Tired of trying to inflate this balloon?

When we don’t feel safe in God’s love, we inflate or deflate ourselves based on what people think of us, what we have, and what we do. But because we’re deeply loved by God, we’re valuable. We don’t have to try to pump ourselves up anymore.

Talk it out:

What do people your age think makes someone a cool person?

Isn’t it weird we all have different ideas of what makes a person valuable?

If you feel comfortable, share something dumb you did—that’s funny now—while trying to be cool. (Parents, get the ball rolling!)

We try a lot of things to inflate the “balloon” inside us so we feel worth something, even if there’s nothing but air inside.

Pastor Henri Nouwen* said we believe three lies about why we’re valuable:

● I am what I do. (I’m talented, helpful, or unique.)

● I am what others say or think about me. (I’m loved or respected.)

● I am what I have. (I want control, comfort, or safety. I have family, friends, nice things, or reputation.)

Which is most tempting to you? How have you seen that lie in your life lately?

These lies tempt us every day—filling our balloon when everything works out, falling flat when it doesn’t.

But God gives us unchanging value, saying

● Jesus has done enough. (2 Corinthians 3:4-6, 5:21, Hebrews 10:14)

● God accepts us because of Jesus. (Romans 5:1, John 1:12)

● He gives us everything we need. (2 Corinthians 9:8, Philippians 4:12-13)

You don’t have to keep wearing yourself out!

You’re a beloved child of God. It’s who you are and why you matter.

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*Henri Nouwen, Spiritual Direction: Wisdom for the Long Walk of Faith (New York: HarperCollins, 2006), 28-29.