Identity Lost

When we turn to other things for knowledge, when we define ourselves by things like our work, our relationships, our giftedness - even our pain - we create an alternative source of identity. And as we image a false god, our very personhood crystallizes around it. Instead of being fully formed, multidimensional people who radiate the complexity of God's nature, we become one-dimensional caricatures, as limited and superficial as the things that we have devoted ourselves to…

When we center our identity on these "lesser glories," we become defined by them, and we end up defining reality by them as well. Like our first parents, we use them to establish our own definition of good and evil and judge ourselves and others by it. When we successfully achieve "good" we feel a high, a moment of fullness in our soul. But whenever it is threatened, we feel threatened. When it is taken from us, we become depressed and feel like we've lost ourselves because in so many ways, we truly have.

Made For More: An Invitation to Live in God's Image, Hannah Anderson, April 2014, Moody, pp. 50-51.