Who am I? What is my purpose in life? What am I searching for in life? These are age old questions that Man has wrestled with. Indeed, there is nothing new under the sun.
Erich Fromm once said, “Man’s main task in life is to give birth to himself, to become what he potentially is. The most important product of his effort is his own personality.”
For some, this statement has been fulfilled, while for others like me, self-discovery is a continual process.
Why do we tend to try discovering ourselves in one direction, thereby straying away from the Lord’s path, even though we know it is not the right way? Why do we run away from God’s calling for us in life? Why do we place our hope in riches, wealth, social status and academic achievement?
We are human, we have been brought up in a culture that places its faith in the tangible things and refuses to acknowledge any thing that cannot be scientifically proven or quantified.
We have been raised in a culture that places its faith in science, and worldly accomplishments. A culture of security: financial, emotional, academic, and physical. We live in a culture that is ruled by the flesh.
Consider the caterpillar. It is a very ugly insect that spends most of its time devouring food. Despite the fact that it is ugly, it does not waste its time looking for ways to improve itself; rather it spends its time eating food.
It does this until it has reached its level of maturity, and then it undergoes metamorphosis and finally becomes a beautiful butterfly.
Many of us are unlike caterpillars: we spend most of our lives detecting our flaws, and insecurities. Some of us are people pleasers: we would do anything to fit in with our group of so-called “friends.”
Some of us spend most of our lives in competition: we do everything possible to be better or different from our brothers, sisters or parents. We want people to know us for who we are and not who our parents are.
A lot of us have come into the college life with emotional, financial and spiritual baggage and insecurities. We have come into the college atmosphere somewhat emptied of our high school friends, looking for ways to fit in and ways to become active.
On the other hand, some people came to this university because their friends were coming here, and so they do not want to be all alone in this new college lifestyle. We have left the high school district, and we are now in the college territory.
It is almost as if one’s world has been turned upside down when one enters the college scene.
One comes to college with somewhat of a void that needs to be filled, an aching that needs to be soothed, a longing that needs to be pacified. As a result, we run to places where we feel welcome, places we feel accepted, places we feel comfortable forging a new identity.
In the process of finding our identity, let us not lose the core values that we have been brought up with. Let us learn to stand up for our beliefs, and speak truth. Let us learn to find our identity in Christ.
Institutions will fail, friends will desert us, academic achievements cannot satisfy our yearnings, and social clubs cannot guide us in finding ourselves. Only Jesus can.
His word says that He knows the number of hairs on your head, He knows each of the over 70 sextillion stars by name.
Why put your faith, your hope and all of your energy into a social organization that is under His authority, or even things of this world, when you can put it in Jesus, the Lord of all and Master of the universe, the God of Wonders who is eternally holy?
Let us find our maturity in Christ; let us lose ourselves for Him.
According to Matthew 16:25, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”
Let us find our identity and indeed our lives in Christ.
