In 2004, a man (nicknamed Benjaman Kyle) was beaten, injured and left without any clothing on him behind Burger King somewhere in Georgia, United States. By the time help got to him, he had lost his memory and he had no form of identification on him. FBI took his finger prints and carried out DNA test on him but he couldn’t still be identified. Dr Phil did a TV show on him, with the intention to regain his identity but to no avail. His nurse who had lovingly and gently nursed him for over 8 years with the hope that he will regain his memory also did not succeed! He had lost his identity!
It was not until late 2015 that, genetic detective work which had gone on for years finally led to the discovery of his real name, William Burgess Powell, although part of his missing years’ history still remains untraceable. With the recovery of his identity, he also no longer has to rely on jobs that pay under the table and can collect public assistance with the rediscovery of his Social Security number.
Many of you have lost your true identity! Actually, some never knew it in the first place! The devil stole it from you through:
- The negative opinions of people such as parents, friends, teachers and many others, especially authority figures in your life.
- Painful experiences that you had e.g. molestation, rape, abuse, death of a loved one, etc, etc.
- Various propagation on Media which feeds your thought and believe system.
The question is, what is your true identity? Who are you?
- Are you the way you look?
- Are you the way you talk?
- Are you what you do for a living?
- Are you your Social, Educational or Economic class?
- Are you your marital status?
Sadly, society identifies us by the above and many of us have come to also identify ourselves by them as well. You will agree with me that if any of the above changes about you, the real you still remain the same! This means that your identity goes beyond how you look or talk; what you do for a living, whether you are rich or poor, married or single, and all that society use to identify us.
Your true identity can only be known in God and through God! Blaise Pascal, a seventeenth century philosopher said, “Not only do we know God through Jesus Christ, but we only know ourselves through Jesus Christ. We only know life and death through Jesus Christ. Apart from Jesus, we cannot know the meaning of our life, the meaning of our death, the meaning of God or the meaning of ourselves. It is only in Christ.”
Knowing who you are will make you to stop
- working excessively to create an identity
- working incredibly hard to maintain an identity
- or suffering miserably because you think you have lost your identity
I shall be exploring this subject in more depth in my Life Class sessions this month so join me as we rediscover our identity! God bless you!
