Who DefinesYou?

I was talking with a friend the other day about the problems caused by other people’s expectations of us. This becomes problematic when we allow their expectations to define us. But this should not be so; we are not defined by others’ desires, needs, expectations or opinions.

Several years ago, there was a significant turn in the discussion on gay marriage. Evangelical Christians had been opposing gay marriage on moral grounds. But when the advocates for gay marriage succeeded in re-defining the issue as a matter of civil rights, I knew the battle was lost. The same thing has happened with abortion—it has been defined as a ‘rights’ issue rather than a moral issue. How you define something determines how you will respond to it.

In the last few decades, enemies of the gospel have attempted to re-label the evangelical church as a bunch of self-righteous hate-mongers trying to impose their moral standards on everyone else, e.g., Jerry Falwell’s “Moral Majority.” Since then, “Seeker-sensitive” churches have tried re-define the evangelical church as more open, loving, and less political. Time will tell if this effort to re-define ourselves will work.

But speaking more personally, each one of us is lives in a world that tries to define us: parents, children, relatives, friends, co-workers. The question of “who am I?” is too vast for a blog posting. So let me just say this: self-definition is not arbitrary. Our identity is anchored in who we are “in Christ” and who Christ is “in us.” Paul's identity was Christ-centered: it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20). How you define yourself determines what kind of life you live. Does Christ define you?