Mistaken Identity

The Identity Thief does nothing more than what his title declares, he steals our identity. He is the father of lies and over time he can rob us of who we were created to be.

The father of lies is cunning and deceptive. He will whisper just loud enough for us to hear and what he utters is close enough to the truth to sound believable. He twists things ever so slightly and his subtleties are often difficult to discern. How does he get away with it? Simple. He came as an angel of light. “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Satan disguises himself as something he is not. It’s difficult to identify someone who hides behind a mask, but their voice will usually give them away.

To recognize the Thief’s voice we must first recognize the voice of God. There is only one way to know God’s voice and that is through prayer. There are no shortcuts, no workarounds, and no magic tricks to hearing and learning the Lord’s voice. It is only through time spent with God, in prayer, that we come to know Him when He speaks. And once we know His voice, the Thief’s voice is all the more recognizable, for the Thief speaks words of condemnation and bondage.

It can be hard to hear the Lord, not because He is silent, but because we have surrounded ourselves with so much noise we can no longer hear Him. Noise is constant in our world. Busy, busy, busy describes our culture. We are in constant motion, running from one thing to the next, the so called rat race. There are achievements and recognitions to earn. There are successes to gain and wealth to accumulate. There is constant comparison of what others have and what we believe we must have to measure up. All this to buy into the lies the Identity Thief has persuaded us to believe – we are what we have, we are what we do, we are what others believe and say, and we are what we falsely believe about ourselves. All these contribute to our mistaken identity. If I believe and buy into the lies, who God really created me to be, will be distorted.

What if everything I have and everything I do were to disappear, like Job who lost everything he held dear. What if I were stripped of everything that I believed identified and defined me? What really does define me? Take all those things away and who am I? What if I stood completely naked, like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? I am not an executive or a teacher. I am not a spouse or a parent. I am not a volunteer, a coach or even a philanthropist. I am not my social group. I am not the degrees on my wall, the titles after my name or the clothing on my back. I am not the house I live in or the neighborhood in which I reside. What about the less obvious lies, yet so much more damaging?

Is my identity what I believe others think of me? I am not pretty. I am fat or stupid. I am not interesting. I am strange and different. I am not valuable. I am incapable.

Is my identity what has been said about me? You are no good. You are worthless. You will never amount to anything. You are clumsy or lazy. You mess everything up. You just never quite make the mark.

Is my identity what somehow I have come to believe about myself? I am not important. I do not have a voice. I am helpless. I do not fit in. I am not special. I am invisible. No matter what, I will never be good enough. If you knew me you wouldn’t love me.

The Identity Thief uses life circumstances, our heart wounds, people’s words, anything he can, to keep us in bondage and to prevent us from seeing who we are in the eyes of God. And if the Thief can steal our identity and keep it hidden, we will not be able to realize the beauty God created within.

If we can catch a glimpse of how beautiful we truly are; if we can believe we are infinitely loved by God, and if we can see ourselves as worthy because everything God creates is worthy, then, and only then, will we begin to uncover who we are in the eyes of our Maker.

Each one of us was uniquely created, with a specific purpose and it is ours for the taking. May El Roi (God who sees) look into our hearts and help us to see our true identity – an identity that depicts a beloved child of the King, beautifully and wonderfully made. May we hear the Lord’s voice above the noise so that He might bring to life all that remains hidden in our hearts.