What Defines You?

Are there times when we you have let past hurts and failures interfere with who you really are and causes you to take on a different role? If there was any invalidation thrown at you in the form of ‘you’re not doing it right’ or ‘you’re wrong’ or ‘you’re not good enough’ it makes sense that you would try to be somebody else. When you identify with invalidation and accept it as truth you may spend a good deal of time and effort trying to fix it by becoming someone you are not and never were meant to be. Others see you and you even may see yourself in the roles you play but they are only seeing one very small part of you and what you DO is not who you are! There are even roles one takes on based on what we THINK they should be, how we should act or we become the person we think someone else wants us to be (confusing, huh? Exactly my point!)

We let some of the ugliness from our past mold and shape us into this person that God did not desire us to be. And sometimes, rightfully so, because it’s hard to forget things that happened years ago but still surfaces in our mind, something traumatic, or mistakes we’ve made especially when people won’t let us forget about it. It’s like they have this one thing that they hold over your head. We also think about stuff people did to us…stuff we did to others…or there may be an event that triggers in your mind something from the past…things that cause us to still focus on moments in time that are behind us.

You may wonder, “How can I forget something that’s happened to me?” “That’s too difficult to do.” “I want to forget, but I just can’t let it go.” “I want to move forward, but I can’t.” Our focus should not be on the past stuff, past issues, past circumstances. They are problematic and painful.

There is one thing that God has given us wisdom on and it is life is too short for a bunch of crazy stuff. God doesn’t care about your past. He already knows what happened. He cares about your future. You must have a positive opinion about yourself. When you know whose you are, you will you know who you are—you will know your spiritual identity.

See, spiritual identity is understanding what defines you, you’re I.D. (as I heard my sister Glynis say, is actually your Internal Definition). We need to understand what defines us so we can properly convey the right message outwardly. Don’t be intimidated: walk with spiritual confidence, know who you are. As a child of God, what defines us is our Christian walk and our relationship with Christ. We are walking, talking billboards displaying our brand, displaying who we are. We should be billboards that advertise His Grace to a lost world. We promote the God brand through our lives, and we make Him attractive by the way we live. Appreciate the person God has made you to be. Be the person God has called you to be. Walk in your liberty and claim your authority. You belong to the Almighty God – Act like you know!


By Carmen Elliott