Tag: identity in christ

Last Saturday, Lucy, our three-year-old and I went on a little date day to the park. After about 12,000 pushes on the swing we decided on a game of hide-and-seek. This is one of my favorite games to play with my girls. The problem is that Lucy is horrible at it.
I’m not saying that Lucy does not find great hiding spots. Sometimes I’m not sure if I could find her with three Sherpa’s and a search and rescue team, she is that good. Where Lucy fails in the game is where her sister also struggled as a toddler. Lucy just can’t keep the location of her strategic hiding spot a mystery. Literally within two seconds of me finishing the count to ten, she is either laughing or yelling, “Here I am Daddy.”
Each time Lucy did this I would coach her in the strategy of the game. She was just not getting it. My hopes in her professional hide-and-seek career were fading fast.
After about 15 rounds of hide and seek, God allowed me to see a deep spiritual truth within a child’s game. Lucy wanted to be found. As an adult I had put the emphasis on the hidden element of the game, but Lucy valued being found. Lucy valued the heart of the gospel.
Sometimes I am astounded by how my children lead me in the ways and perspectives of God. Is not the word of God a story of the lost being found? Are we not all in some way wanting to be found and truly known?
Unfortunately, the older we get, the less we want to be found. Like Adam and Eve we have created coverings for ourselves in the form of false personas based on things like power, prestige and body type. We are no longer naked and unashamed. We no longer cry out, “Here I am Daddy. Come find me. Here I am.”
The desire to hide is based in shame. In Genesis we see that Adam and Eve were no longer comfortable in their own skin. This sense of shame was appropriate for Adam and Eve. After disobeying God they were now under the curse and wrath of God. Because of their act of disobedience, everyone who would be born after them would also inherit this character trait, original sin and its corresponding shame.
This proclivity to hide in shame is the primary reason we give up the gifts and gold of our true identities for the putrid rags of false identities based on shifting worldly standards. It is in our nature to do this. The seclusion of our true naked personality is ingrained into our flesh.
This shameful desire to hide is fueled by fear. Once again, Adam and Eve had appropriate reasons to hide from their God. They were now under His judgment. Hiding then, and now its always based in that original fear.
Paradoxically, we as humans create phantom personas to create a sense of security in order to relieve this fear. The only problem with this is the greater the deception of your mask, the greater the fear and shame you experience. Does that make sense? As you increase in the proficiency of your masking it will increase fear and shame. This is due to the fact that the desire to hide was birthed from fear and shame and they cannot be separated. Neither can increase without a parallel movement of its counterpart.
I believe that this paradox is one of the reasons why we are seeing such a rise of anxiety and depression in our culture. The more our society highlights th false personas that we use to seek our identities the more we hide our true selves in their pursuit. As I said earlier, fear and shame, which lead to anxiety and depression, are the automatic fruition of this striving.
Without a strong sense of your God-given personal identity it will be nearly impossible to chart your life’s true course. Instead of living out who you know yourself to be in Christ, you will instead continue to be drawn to false idols to find your security and peace of mind.
Jesus’ death and resurrection has removed this shame and allows us to once again be found naked and unashamed. True freedom comes not only when we know who we truly are, but understand that this image which was created by God is fully accepted by Him. This is the way of the redeemed, the unashamed and the authentic self.