“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
Genesis 1:27
“I just need to find myself.“
How many times have we heard people say this or even utter the phrase ourselves? It’s as if our identity is elusive and we’re confused as to who we are and what our purpose is. Many times it stems from others attempting to put their identity on us. Perhaps, it’s from us trying to be what we think other people want us to be.
In a day where the word “identity” is in every conversation, the quest for “finding ourselves” seems preeminent. Yet, we seem farther than ever before to living at peace with our existence.
We tend to try and “find ourselves” by trying something new – perhaps it’s a new relationship, a new job, a new place. We leave all that is familiar, throw away the good, bad and ugly in our life and attempt to redefine ourselves. For a moment, we may feel some excitement but then, as the newness wears off, we find ourselves in the same place we began.
May I share my belief on this idea of “finding yourself?”
If you find God, you will find yourself.
It really is that simple. We are made in the image of God. We reflect Him. This is who we are. We will never “find ourselves” if we don’t first find God. It’s not just head knowledge of who God is, but it’s an intimate, deep pursuit of knowing His heart, understanding His character, seeing His traits and being washed in His love and presence.
Instead of taking time to “find ourselves,” it is guaranteed that if we instead take time to find out who God is, we will truly find out who we are. Because of Christ, we are a beautiful reflection of His perfection.
A type of artwork in Japan is called Kintsugi. An artist will take broken pieces of pottery or artifacts and instead of attempting to restore the broken pieces as they were before and trying to hide the brokenness, the artist will put the pieces back together with an adhesive mix of lacquer and gold, silver or platinum. The result is a beautiful new piece of pottery that is unique in design and majestically restored. It’s the revealing lines of restored brokenness that creates its beauty. It’s the restoration to its intended purpose that makes it priceless. It speaks of the expert touch of the artist who is able to transform brokenness into strength and beauty.
In our world of broken people, meaning ourselves, instead of trying to create our own identity through our own power, perhaps we can go to the Master Artist and allow Him to put us back together and be a living reflection of Him so all of the world will see His beauty and majesty.
Finding ourselves will come through finding our Creator and allowing Him to reveal to us who we are. We will find ourselves as we find Him.
May we continue to live…
Rooted in Him,
