We all do it. Meeting someone for the first time- it automatically pops out of our mouth…

So what do you do?

It seems natural, we want to get to know someone better, and the words tumble out. Usually the response comes in the form of what a person does for a living. But that’s not what we are really asking. We don’t care (that much) if they are an insurance adjuster, a teacher, or a postal worker. What we really want to know is who they really are.

It’s amazing how much we let casual labels categorize our world. We sort people into different buckets, based on what we have in common, how we met them, what we expect of them. We allow ourselves to be weighed & judged based on the answer to these introductory questions. 

But who we truly are is a question much deeper than how we spend our days. It’s one most of us spend our entire lives answering for ourselves. Some days we are more successful than others.  A lot of days we feel like our true selves are just hollowed out shells counting down the hours until we can rest. We soldier on, filling out spreadsheets, showing up for meetings, wrestling tiny feet into tiny socks, while on the inside we feel desperately in need of… something.

What is it we need? We don’t know.

So, we decide to go gluten-free. We go after that side hustle. We join one more board, or start binge watching one more show. We cut bangs (usually a mistake), overspend online shopping, or disappear behind the covers of another book. Searching, or running from, the question we are afraid to ask.

Who are you, really?

It’s not what you do vocationally. It’s not what you know. It’s not what you’re good at. It’s not how many people like you, or like your posts. It’s something so cloudy around the edges, that few of us even feel bold enough to try and fill in the missing pieces.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.

The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’ ” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.

Matthew 4:1-11

In the desert, Jesus received the same questions we did. The tempter challenged him to prove his worth, his identity, his abilities. Jesus was tempted with comforts, with applause, and with the chance to prove his power once and for all. The response though, was never found in Jesus’ abilities, but instead in his true identity- dearly beloved by God.

Jesus didn’t need to answer Satan’s ridicule, because his identity was secure. Wrapped around who God says he is, and so rooted in love that he had no need to prove to others the truth of it.

What if, instead of finding our value in our jobs, our looks, our intelligence, or our bank balance, we instead anchored it in our true identity? We are, each of us, living walking miracles. Created on purpose. Intimately known, and loved by God. Completely unique, original in a way the world has never seen. And completely essential to the beauty and balance of the world we inhabit.

The next time you receive the question of who you are, or you feel the gnawing feeling of not enough working on your soul, double down on your answer. Go to scripture and find your true identity there. Rest in the fact that you are known. Loved. Redeemed. Important. Deliberately designed by a God who makes no mistakes.