I want to share what I’ve learned about something that has been a big point of personal growth for me over the past 7 months. It’s something that directly impacts the way we live our lives every day; something that I believe is often looked over; something that is strongly affected by the environment we live in; something that directly affects the relationships we have; and something that I think is treated in a very unhealthy way by our society.
Identity.
Identity is something I have been learning about a lot since I went to World Race Training Camp last July. Learning about identity and applying what I’ve learned to my life has transformed me as a person and brought me to places I never thought I would be able to go, and I’ve become so much healthier– emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. But before I talk about what I’ve learned, I want to fill you in on where I was with my identity before this whole process of growth and learning began.
Everyone has struggles. It’s part of life. There were many things I struggled with as a child and young adult. I struggled (and still do) with things like not having any confidence in myself, and thinking I wasn’t good enough because I wasn’t good at enough things. I also struggled with comparing myself to others and started to hate myself because they were better than me in certain ways. I was also afraid to be heard because I thought what I had to say didn’t matter. These are just a few of the many challenges I faced. I was aware of some of these struggles more than others, but I figured I just had to deal with them and get on with life and hopefully I would grow out of them. I never stopped to think about what the root of those things were.
I knew about identity, everyone does, but I never really gave it much thought. I mean, it’s basically just what you do for a job or what you do in your free time or something like that, right? Seems pretty simple. What I didn’t know was that all those things I was struggling with were rooted in my identity, the version of myself I had created. I never knew that, as a result of the environment I lived in, the pressures I experienced from people around me, and my desire to be liked by those same people, I had created a false version of myself to try to gain control. I built up walls in some places to hide things about myself that I thought people didn’t like, and I tried to pretend I was something I wasn’t to get people to like me. It’s not like I did any of this intentionally, I didn’t even know I was doing it. I never knew I was far away from who I truly am, my true self, and I wasn’t living in my true identity. I was hiding behind a false self and a false identity I created to protect myself from pain and to live the most comfortable life possible.
When I went to World Race training camp, I started to learn these things about myself, and it hit me hard, and has been hitting me hard since then as I continue to learn and grow. In fact, I’m going to share what I wrote regarding this on my blog right after training camp.
“I have created a false self. The world we live in constantly tries to change us, and to be accepted by the world and to avoid pain, embarrassment, discomfort, and vulnerability, I have put on a false self. What I mean by that is I have created a version of myself that is not really who I am, in order to hide who I really am. Most of us probably do this to some extent, but I never actually knew I was doing this until training camp. So rather than being the person that God created in His image, the person He created me to be, I have become a person that I created in the image of the world, which is my attempt at gaining control. One of the troubles of doing this is I forgot who my true self is along the way, the person God created me to be. In the community, vulnerability, honesty, love, and grace I experienced at camp, God began to remind me what He created me for. He reminded me that my true self, my identity, is in Him, and that I am a child of God, loved by Him. He reminded me of the gifts he gave me and what He created me for. I’m a long way from living out my true identity, but it’s a process and I’m at the start of it.” – Me on July 21st, 2015
I was right when I said it’s a process and I’m at the start of it. I became aware of it at training camp and I have been learning about and growing into my true identity more and more since. Since then, I’ve actually become really passionate about this topic because it’s already changed my life so much. The realization I had at training camp, the awareness I’ve grown into, the trust I’ve learned to have for God, and the action I’ve taken to push myself back in the right direction have been a hard and trying process, but so much fruit has come from it.
I’ve learned a lot of things about identity and about myself through this process. For example:
- God is the Master Creator of all things, and he created me a specific way for a specific reason and purpose. When I create a false version of myself, I’m basically telling God the way he created me isn’t good enough, that he failed at creating me, and I can do better than him by creating my own identity.
- Genesis 1:27 says “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
God created me in his own image, and I created my false identity in the image of the world, so I could be affirmed by the world. I literally chose the world over God, and held the world at a higher place than God in my life. Affirmation from the world is meaningless and empty, and no true joy is found in it. But affirmation from God is life giving, joy giving, powerful, true, and full of love. If I want affirmation from God that he is willing to freely give, I can’t live an identity centered around receiving affirmation from the world.
- Galatians 1:10 says “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ?”
My false self I was living in was trying to win the approval of human beings, and that was affecting my ability to be a servant of Christ.
- I always thought my identity was determined by my thoughts and actions; I thought it was the product of the life I live. I never realized I had that backwards; the life I live is a product of my identity, and my identity has a huge impact on every aspect of my life. If I choose to live in my true identity, I will make a positive, God-centered impact on those around me.
- Ephesians 2:10 says “For we are created in God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
God has a specific purpose for me and I can only live in that purpose by being who he created me to be. He has a plan, and it’s better than mine. If I fully live in my true identity, I will accomplish things I could never imagine.
- God gave us gifts, talents, and passions for a reason. He didn’t give them to us to taunt us and laugh while we’re at our jobs we hate wishing we could be doing something we like. He gave them to us so we could use them and pursue them. He gifted every single person in the world in a unique way so we don’t need to waste our time comparing ourselves to other people. The world would be a better place if we all did what we loved.
- We are fearfully and wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14) The Hebrew word for “fearfully” means awesomely or marvelously. This means I was awesomely and wonderfully made. I chose not to live in that truth and live in the identity I made, which I can assure you is not awesome or wonderful in any way.
- The best thing I can do for this world, and for God’s kingdom, is be who he created me to be. This is probably one of my favorite things I’ve learned. There is literally no better gift I can give this world, or myself for that matter, than a Luke Sherron that is living in his true identity. This truth has become especially obvious in the past two months since I became a Team Leader. When I try to lead like other people lead, it doesn’t work for me. I have to lead as myself. I guarantee if you asked my team they would say the times when I’ve done a poor job leading them were moments I wasn’t acting like myself.
- When I live as my true self, so much more fruit than just “being me” will come out of it. I will be able to love better and in a way only I can, I won’t waste my time worrying about what others think of me, I will have so much more confidence in myself knowing I’m living as the amazing God of the universe created me to be, and so many more things. I’ve already started seeing some of these things show up in small ways the past few months. One of my Squad Coaches said to me during a one-on-one (world race terms for a meeting) that “Just being who Jesus called you to be opens doors for you that you wouldn’t have imagined.” I couldn’t agree with her more.
- Identity is something that defines so much of our lives, I mean it is who we are. When we realize we’re living an identity that is false, and we realize somewhere along the way we forgot and lost who we truly are, it can be pretty devastating. From there we only have a couple choices: we can continue living in our false identity or we can go back and try to find the true, real one. It would certainly be easier to just continue living in the false identity, but there’s no fulfillment or growth in that. The thing about going back and trying to find our true identity is we have to try to break out of the false identity that is sometimes all we know, which leads us to brokenness (I talked about this a lot in my last blog). It’s devastating. It’s difficult. But brokenness is such a necessary part of the process. When we reach brokenness, we have three more options: we can find a new false identity in the world, we can go back to our old false identity and not change at all, or we can seek after the Lord and ask him to give us our identity. Our true identity. Going to God and accepting what he says about us is where we find true joy and fulfillment.
- When I’ve been living in a false identity for so long that I forget what my true identity is and I’ve hit a place where I’m going to God and trying to find what’s true and what’s not, I find there are things about myself that I’m not willing to give up- false things I like about myself. I want to keep those parts of my false identity while still living my true identity, but I can’t have my cake and eat it too.
In Luke 9:23 it says “Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.’”
When it comes to those issues, I just have to remember I have to die to what I want and take what he has for me, so that later I can walk in fullness and truth.
It’s certainly a long and hard process, one that I’m going through daily, but in the end it’s so worth the pain. It has already brought me so much life. When I was on the plane coming from Central America to the Philippines, I watched a movie with George Clooney that I really liked called “Tommorowland” and there was a quote in one scene that really stuck out to me. The movie is about a girl who finds a whole world outside of earth that is full of wonder and innovation and it’s amazing, but earth is in danger and needs to be saved. She finds George Clooney, and he think’s she’s the one that can save the earth. When she realizes that, she says, “Am I supposed to do something? How am I supposed to fix the world?” George Clooney replies, “Just be yourself.”
I think if we were all living in our true identities, pursuing what the great Creator has given us a passion for, the world would be an amazing place.
–
Thank you to everyone who has supported me! All this I’ve learned and experienced wouldn’t have happened without all the contributions from my amazing supporters. My deadline to be fully funded was the end of last year, which means I’m almost a month overdue on that deadline. The financial support I receive goes toward my flights, lodging, food, any other travel, and more. I’m running out of time to raise the remaining amount of $2,691 of the total $16,267. If I don’t raise those funds in time, there will be no way to get the flights, etc., and I can be sent home early. Please prayerfully consider supporting me financially, as well as support through prayer. If you want to support me financially, just click on “Support Me!” at the top of this page.
I wouldn’t be here without all of you, and I am EXTREMELY grateful for all the support I’ve received. I love you all!
