Don’t Know Yourself Very Well? 4 Tips for Finding Your Identity in Christ

4 tips to help you with finding your identity in Christ so you can truly know yourself.

Are you struggling with understanding who you are, what your identity is, and why you’re here? If you don’t know yourself very well, then today’s podcast is just for you, because we’re going to talk all about how you can find your identity in Christ. 

Recently I was chatting with a woman in our community and I was asking her what was on her heart, what was the thing that was really burdening her in her life right now? She said she really doesn’t feel like she knows herself very well.

I can relate to that feeling. For a really, really really long time, I struggled to know myself. Who am I? What do I like and don’t like? Why do I like the things that I do like, why don’t I like what I don’t like? It was a struggle really to understand who LaToya is. 

I think this is a struggle that many of us go through. Especially when you have allowed your identity to be defined based on different relationships: mom, daughter, wife, or friend. This is instead of getting your identity really grounded in who Christ made you, who you were created to be, and who you are as an individual.

Today I want to talk about how you can do that and ground yourself in the identity that Christ gives you that has nothing to do with other people.

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Finding Your Identity in Christ Tip #1: Why It Matters

The first thing that I want to talk about today is why it matters. Why does knowing who you are in Christ matter? There are so many reasons, but the one thing is that you need to know who you are in Christ so that you are able to ignore the lies that come at you.

You need to be firmly rooted in your identity in Christ because the world today is bananas. It is going to try to put labels on you, put definitions on you, and put you in certain boxes based on what they think you should be. You need to be able to say no, to reject that because you know who you are in Christ. To know this is who He has made you to be, and to stand firmly in that. 

You have to understand who you are and a lot of times, that is going to help you to understand whose you are. Knowing God helps you know yourself. Knowing yourself is going to help you connect better with God. It all works together.

Your identity matters because it’s going to influence every aspect of your life: the way that you interact with other people, the kind of job that you’re going to do, and the way that you show up for others. It’s going to influence what you wear, where you go, and what you do. It’s the core of knowing who you are. 

This is why naming is something that’s so important. You see in scripture that names have meanings, and values and speak to the person’s personality. When Jacob is named, he becomes a surplanter. He takes things away from his brother and his uncle. That is who he becomes. When he gets his act together he gets a new name, Israel.

In scripture, names speak to identity and it’s the same thing for you. It matters that you are a daughter of God. That title daughter means something. You’ve got to understand this so that when life gets wonky when all of these things start to happen, you have an anchor that’s going to keep you at peace. A way to stay full of joy and keep your eyes focused on the right thing and not all the craziness going on around you. 

Finding Your Identity in Christ Tip #2: Stop Letting Others Define You

The second tip in finding your identity in Christ is to stop copying others and stop letting others define you. Oftentimes you look around at other people and think you’re just like her so you must be that. Or you’re not like her so you’re not that.

I have seen this happen so many times, especially in the homeschool community. There are all kinds of ways to educate your kids and families begin to identify by which educational method you use. The reason that copying other people is a problem is twofold.

One, you are like a snowflake, none of us are the same. God has made each of us specifically and uniquely. You’ve been designed the way he wants you to be. When you start copying people you’re trying to skip over the work of really uncovering who God made you to be.

You don’t always take the time to check and see if that thing that you’re copying is actually a good fit for you. If a characteristic that you see in other people and want to emulate lines up with God’s word. Many times people will put labels on you that don’t fit, like a victim or something negative. That’s not you, that’s not who you are.

The world is trying to tell everybody who they are and what they can do. Right now in the culture, it’s you can be whatever you want to be. Whatever you say, that’s what you are. Whatever you think, that’s what you are. If you want to change your mind tomorrow, that’s fine, that’s great, and that is just madness. 

You cannot let the world or other people tell you who you are, because they are going to jack it up. They are going to make up something or create something that has nothing to do with who you are. That lie is counterfeit and it’s going to lead to chaos and utter madness. The world is trying to tell you that this is what you are.

If you say you’re a Christian that means that you’re hateful. Or when you say you’re a woman that means that you’re such and such. You cannot get your identity, that core of who you are, from looking outside of you to other people. or other things, or to the culture. That stuff will get it wrong. It’s going to change, it’s not going to be a good fit and you’re just going to really struggle with still not knowing who you are.

Finding Your Identity in Christ Tip #3: Ground Yourself in Truth to Combat the Lies

My third tip is the solution to the second one. Instead of copying other people and letting the culture and the environment tell you who you are ground yourself in the truth. Ground yourself in the word of God because it’s the only thing that does not change. It’s always true.

When the current, whatever it is in culture, fades away and something new pops up the word of God is still going to be true. It’s still going to say the same thing. It’s still going to be what you can ground and root yourself in. You need to saturate your mind with the word.

Open up your Bible and let scripture and the voice of God tell you who you are. Tell you that you are created in the image of God, that God made male and female, that you are a friend of Jesus, and you are fearfully and wonderfully made. You have got to get all of that information, all of that knowledge of who you are, from the person that made you. 

When I think about families kids learn who they are by looking to their parents. To understand where they fit into their family and into the world. God is your Heavenly Father, He is your creator. You need to look to Him to tell you who you are, what you’re about, and how you fit into the world because He made every single thing in it.

He knows who you are, and what He created you to be. He knows every single thing about you. If He knows the number of hairs on your head then surely He can tell you who you are. You’ve got to ground yourself in the truth, because when your identity is firmly rooted in the Word of God, then you can stand against any lie that comes up against you.

When somebody tries to tell you that you’re something that you know that you are not, you can reject that immediately. You don’t have to fall prey to lies and deception when you are firmly rooted in who Christ has created you to be. 

Finding Your Identity in Christ Tip #4: Get to Know God

The fourth tip to help you find your identity in Christ is to get to know God. Just like opening up scripture and letting scripture tell you who you are, open scripture and let scripture tell you about God. Tell you who God is, His names, His nature, His character, His promises, the things that He will do and he won’t do. When you learn about God, that influences what you learn about yourself. 

When you open up your bible and read that God is a creator that means that you are a created being. You were made with intention, on purpose. It didn’t just happen because of some weird event of science. When you read your Bible and hear that God will provide a way, know that you don’t lack anything that you need.

When you read about the fact that God is Immanuel know that you’re not alone, not abandoned, not forgotten, and not forsaken. Spending time in God’s Word and learning about who God is is going to tell you even more about yourself because just like babies and kids learn who they are from their parents we need to do the same.

You learn about God, who He is, and that tells you more about who you are. That solidifies more of your identity in Christ when you understand the person who made you and created you.

Final Thoughts on Finding Your Identity in Christ

Those are the four tips that I have for helping you find your identity in Christ. I want to encourage you that if you are struggling with understanding your identity, knowing who you are like, why you were made, and what your purpose is here on earth, to take all of that to prayer. 

Talk to God about what you’re struggling with and talk to God about what you don’t understand. Talk to Him about what you want. Ask Him to show you who you are and spend time in His word reading about who he says that you are.

If you are still struggling reach out to somebody, a mentor, a prayer partner, a pastor, a teacher,  a leader in your church, or somebody that you know is solid in their faith with sound biblical doctrine. Go and talk to them and tell them you need help.

Tell them you’re really struggling with your identity and ask for help to sort things out. They will help you, they will support you, they will listen to you, they will cry with you, they will pray with you. They will be there to help lead you and guide you. 

It is so important that you know who you are because when you do that changes everything. It keeps you safe and it gives you ammunition against the enemy. It’s what is really going to help you walk through these hard times with peace, strength, and hope because you know exactly who you are.

You know what that means for this world and the next. You know all of those things once you are grounded in the truth of who God created you to be.

Other Helpful Resources:

• Why Your Identity in Christ Matters During Hard Times
• Why God Allows Suffering
• When You Don’t Get What You Want From God

Finding your identity in Christ is easy with these 4 tips and you can feel confident in knowing who you are.