I find it amazing how sin operates in the human heart, sin finds its way to the heart; the mind and lodges there. It gets married to Self, and thus the individual finds his/her identity from the description that Sin assigns to the Self.
Now, Sin will always seek to give one an identity aside from God. Any identity apart from that originally bestowed by God will serve the purpose of sin perfectly in the heart.
Look at a few examples in the Bible:
Eve- the first person to sin. Why did she seek to eat of the forbidden fruit? It is because she wanted to attain a higher sense of identity ~ the tree was desirable to make her wise. She wanted to have an inflated sense of her own importance. She was not contented to occupy the place God had assigned her, as a wife to her husband.
Is that not the same concept sold in today’s women empowerment chants? Modern Eves are promised that they will have a higher sense of identity.
Now let’s look at Adam. With him, the narrative is more complex, but I hope that I shall manage to explain it as it appears in my mind.
Why does Adam eat of the forbidden fruit? We know for a fact that he was not hungry, so why does he eat?
It is because he ‘loves’ Eve. Notice I have placed the love in quotations because it was not really love. You see Adam had reached a point like most men today, that he generated his sense of identity from his relation to his wife. To take away his wife would be to rob him of that which made him feel alive, feel important, feel like a man.
And is that not the same trap, men have fallen in today; they choose beautiful women, not because they love these women. But because these women, make them feel important. They inflate the frail ego, the self, and the identity of the man. So they will protect the woman, because of how the woman makes them feel not because they genuinely love the lady. If the woman loses her charm or beauty that made them feel important, they will dump them quickly and seek a younger one who will reignite that false sense of importance in their identity.
If Adam had generated his sense of identity from God, then he would not fear to lose his wife, because his sense of being would be rooted in God and not the woman.
God understood this complicated and warped sense of identity in Adam, that’s why when giving him his punishment God states
“Because you have hearkened to the voice of your wife”
In essence, that which defines our identity shall also command our attention.
If our identity is tied to our profession; we shall hearken to the demands of our careers more than we listen to the voice of God.
We shall be irked when someone fails to recognize us as Dr. Eng. Wakili. Prof. Mwalimu. Sir…
Because their failure to mention our professional titles is interpreted as a failure to realize our identity.
Come later on to Abraham and you realize the reason God had to test him with offering Isaac is because the old man had reached a point whereby his identity was no longer fixed upon God but upon his son. He found the meaning of life, in seeing Isaac and claiming him as the son of promise. Thus God had to remove the son to restore Abraham’s sense of identity back to the ultimate one; in whom we live and move and have our being.
And the most surprising thing is that Self can actually be more willing to find it’s identity in God’s service rather than in God Himself.
That is the outcry in 1 Corinthians 13.
The eloquent speaker, who speaks in tongues of men and angels, may reach a point whereby he derives his sense of identity from the powerful sermons he preaches rather than in the God who is the object of the sermons. He shall find delight in service more than he finds delight in God. Oh! The intricate mess brought in by sin.
The charity doer may find their identity in giving out goods to the poor but Self withholds them back from finding their identity in God.
And if that is not enough! The prophet may find their joy in ecstatic visions and understanding mysteries but the wonder is that a prophet may not have their identity in God. Their eyes are turned to the visions of holiness yet Self does not still submit its identity to be ordered by God.
And so it is that in the last day, some shall cry did we not prophesy in your name and God shall say; I did not know you. A good example here is Balaam… He saw the vision of an angel by the road, a donkey spoke to forbid the madness of a prophet, He saw the Messiah coming as a Star out of Shiloh 🌟 Yet the man still allowed his sense of identity to be governed by sin!
And even more amazing is the Martyr In His zeal, he finds more delight in being regarded as a champion for God who died for Christ but sadly he is a deluded enthusiast who was unwilling to Live for Jesus.
Alas! Who then can be saved? It seems all men derive their identity from something else apart from God. I long to see a converted man, whose identity lies not in what he does, not in the service he engages in, not in the titles he has, not in the wealth he possesses.. not even in the scriptural knowledge he has but his identity is found in God.
Happy is the man in such a case. He shall lose everything like Job, but he remains steadfast for His identity is built on the Solid rock. Lord make me such a man! Lord make us such!
The Auction