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I seem to recall there was a time not so long ago when we didn’t struggle with knowing who we were. I am not sure I remember conversations about trying to determine our identity or values back then. It wasn’t that we didn’t have questions and wonder but they were not resting on a foundation of seeming discontent about almost everything in life. If we have uncertainties as surely we did, they were not pulling us into perpetual whirlpools that caused us to lose certainty about who we thought we were nor become our main focus.

We accepted certain things at the core were what life was about and mattered most to us. Some might say life was simpler then and that was true in many ways. We focused largely on responsibility within our family and the sphere where we spent our time and being responsible was a sign of good character and trustworthiness. We believed in some level of moral goodness was possible despite the awareness of evil and uncertainties.  Serving others, whether family, neighbors, or our nation were practiced in daily living not just in the midst of a crisis. 

We had fewer choices about any number of things while still having the opportunity to dream dreams, set goals, and pursue plans. Entertainment was not central to our days and we found it in smaller arenas like the neighborhood, the church, or the small local movie theater where only one choice was offered on a weekend. It may have included TV with only a few channels with family friendly programs and only a limited number of newscasts that ended most days’ programming after the eleven o’clock reports. Home had a rhythm of varying kinds for most everyone with families gathering for the evening meal and children having daily chores in addition to homework.

Photo by Pam Ecrement

For many of us if we were guided by some level of faith we weren’t tied in knots about trying to determine our identity within it that we were trying to give ourselves based on an eclectic hodgepodge. Reading some thoughts of Paul Tripp identified what seems more common now.

“The problem , sadly, is that many of us live in a constant, or at least a rather regular, state of identity amnesia.We forget who we are, and when we do, we begin to give way to doubt, fear, and timidity. Identity amnesia makes you feel poor when you are rich. It makes you feel foolish when in fact you are in a personal relationship with the One who is wisdom. It makes you feel unable when in fact you have been blessed with strength. It makes you feel alone when in fact, since the Holy Spirit lives inside you, it is impossible for you to be alone. You feel unloved, when in fact, as a child of the heavenly Father, you have been graced with eternal love. You feel like you don’t measure up when in fact the Savior measured up on your behalf. Identity amnesia sucks the life out of your Christianity in the right here, right now moment in which all of us live.”

Paul Tripp

How did it happen? When did we start chasing after “more” and “not enough” and “success” as though these would bring about satisfaction we were somehow missing? What tantalized us and duped us into losing what we had been sure of much of the time?

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Did we really buy the same lie that took Eve off guard? She had everything in that perfect Eden Garden except a beguiling serpent seduced her into believing she was denied if she couldn’t have one piece of fruit from one tree. She listened long enough to wonder if she was denied what she needed to be truly happy and content and then succumbed to that idea.

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Have all of our choices led us to miss what has been the central belief of not so long ago? Has our life been upended by a nonstop daily diet of things we are told will make us prettier, richer, thinner, smarter, more successful, younger, and happier? 

Pause before you answer that because it shows up in even small ways for most of us and left unchecked can lead us down a path we did not intend to take. By now, we may not even recognize it despite a pandemic just a few years ago that brought us up short and cut our choices and options back to a level unknown to us. Did we learn so little back then beyond our difficulty trusting sources we had believed in before?

At a time when the world itself teeters on great uncertainties, it is time to shake ourselves from the identity amnesia Paul Tripp writes about and find solid footing on the foundation of the faith we espouse but do not always live out.

“So if you’re his child, ward off the fear that knocks on your door by remembering who God is and who you’ve become as his chosen child. And don’t just celebrate his grace; let it reshape the way you live today and the tomorrows that follow.”

Paul Tripp

Photo by Pam Ecrement