Discovering Our Identity, Part 1

Defining Identity 

As a young boy I fantasized about being a cowboy who brought justice to the wild frontier. I owned a cowboy hat and boots, a six shooter and its holster, a bandanna for my neck, and chaps to protect me when I rode my imaginary horse. I even took to the stage one summer on a family vacation. I wore my cowboy outfit while I whistled “Home on the Range” for the kids’ talent show. I won first place in my age group (6 years old?), receiving a cup and five dollars! Now I was a rich cowboy!

Questions of identity surface throughout our lives. Who is Bernie Schock? Who are you? When my cowboy identity had faded into the sunset, it was replaced by other dreams. In my teen years I hoped to become a professional baseball player; a few years later a doctor; next I wanted to be a dairyman like my dad; during my seminary days I tried out the idea of being a foreign missionary; and on and on.

Identity has been defined “as that stable core of defining factors in which a voice says, “This is the real me.” But the “real me” is difficult to define because there are so many factors that make up our identity:

• Our physical characteristics: gender, size, race, talents, tendencies toward shyness or aggressiveness. (Look at the body of an elite athlete like Lebron James. His childhood dreams of becoming a professional athlete had a basis in reality!)
• Our histories: I am the son of the respected Al Schock. Most people would treat me differently if I was the son of a serial murderer. Our families have a great impact on our opportunities, education, trauma, failures, successes. Furthermore, the friends we choose, the people we work with or serve, the famous people we try to emulate, all have a weighty impact on who we become.
• Our commitments: to a location; to investments of interest, time and money. I am a Midwest boy who loves open spaces and seasonal changes. When we lived in Florida for two years and I lost my job, we prayed: “Lord, we are willing to go anywhere. But we would sure prefer to return to our northern roots.”

The quest for identity is always a fluid matter. Today I am  no longer the parents of pre-adult children. And as I see my identity as a professor shrinking, I wonder: Who I will be in my retirement?

Why is a study of identity important? Each of us was created by God for special purposes, for the good works which he prepared in advance for us to do. (Eph.2:10) My lifelong challenge is to discover those purposes so that I can be faithful to my Creator. Some of the greatest joys in life come to those who have discovered and are becoming the person God created them to be.