Barriers to Callingনমুনা

Calling and Identity

A battle rages over our identity, which is the foundation for our calling in God.  This battle intensifies through our own insecurity or when we have been through challenging and traumatic life events. There is a part of us, which we could call ‘the victim,' that cries, "Don’t you know what I’ve been through?" Maybe because of life’s unfairness or harshness we can feel entitled to more—more grace and leeway from people to somehow balance things out or, like Jacob, we can try and make things happen. Life now owes us something back. Maybe you can recognize some of these feelings in yourself.

This thinking is not especially calculated, more unprocessed, and it is our true identity that is at stake. I became aware that I was wearing labels like lanyards. One read, ‘Bereaved parent.’ The other, ‘Child with cancer.’ They hung around my neck and were beginning to define me and get in the way of my freedom and my calling. We can all be tempted to wear labels, especially when wounds have been inflicted on us by others or by life’s lottery: ‘abused,’ ‘bullied,’ ‘betrayed,’ ‘excluded,’ ‘depressed,’ ‘confused,’ ‘ill.’ You can add your own. 

It is so tempting to wear the labels to elicit more encouragement and affirmation from others, which, of course, we need. The danger is that labels become sticky and attach themselves to our identity. We have to be very deliberate about peeling them off because our true identity is ‘child of God’ and that is where we are free to pursue God’s calling on our life. 

Questions

Where have you wrestled with your identity? Are there any sticky labels you need to peel off that are barriers to your calling? What does it mean to be a child of God?

Prayer

Lord God, thank you that I am Your child. May that unchangeable fact always be at the center of my identity so that I can embrace the fullness of your calling for me.  Amen