.png)
A few months ago, I was invited by a television station to interview about identity crisis. The crisis, however, had nothing to do with whether or not we have lost our identity in Christ, but it was about whether or not weaves are a sign that woman has an identity crisis.
To set the record straight, I have an undeniable love for weaves. For me, they are like shoes. I can alternate from weaves to braids… I prefer my Indian or Brazilian weaves. However, weaves do not define who I am.
Some people do define themselves by their weaves; or by what car they drive, their friends, the position they hold at work, the label of their clothing, fame, the person they’re dating or married to – it’s about status.
We think those things define us; we believe that is what makes us who we are. In fact, society makes us think that those things are essential things in life. People tend to give you more respect if you drive fancier care, live a more beautiful house, etc. and have more beautiful clothes. The person’s character has become secondary.
If we don’t know who we are, then how can we not have an identity crisis? This is not about race or the hairstyles we chose to have … , but is what the Bible speaks about in James 1: 23-25 – For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not the doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in the mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he looks like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
This passage was not written for people who are not believers. But it is for people who are struggling with their identity. Though we study the Word of God which tells us and reminds us who we are in Christ, and we go to church, we continue to act like lost people with identity issues.
Our true identity is more than just what we wear or what we look. It is what the Word of God says that we are; and if we genuinely believe it, it becomes me.
I know that no one is perfect and we all make mistakes. Nevertheless, our actions reveal who we truly are inside. I am not ignorant of the fact that people can pretend to be someone they are not – that is also an identity crisis.
If you believe that you are beautiful, you act like it. If you believe in your salvation, you live like it, and if you believe you are loved, you act like it. We believe that we have Christ’s Spirit in us, yet we don’t act like it. We learn every day of how much God loves us, but we can’t live like loved people, we don’t treat ourselves as forgiven people, and we don’t live our lives as righteous people – we don’t know who we are.
We may look in the mirror often, but because we believe what society tells us about what we're supposed to be, we quickly forget who we truly are.