I have always been fascinated by the idea of identity. Who am I? Who do others say that I am? Who does God say that I am? What does it mean for me to exist? How do I know I exist?
These questions, even since I was a teenager, have always rolled around in my head. Over the years, with formal and informal education, I have sought to make sense of the ideas of identity and existence.
Formal training in theology and psychotherapy have helped my pursuit of trying to make sense of the human experience. I’ve read books from theologians, philosophers, and the broad field of
psychology.
What makes it all the more interesting is that nifty little passage in Exodus when Moses, speaking to God at the burning bush, has this famous exchange:
“13 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to
Moses, “I am.” Exodus 3:13-14
The original Hebrew word in the text, we believe, comes from the Hebrew verb for “to be.” Basically, God is saying to Moses, “I am existence itself.” What a huge statement!
So if God is existence itself, where does that leave us? To answer this, we have to fast forward to Paul’s speech in the Areopagus (a council of leaders within the city of Athens) from the Book of
Acts:
“22 Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely spiritual you are in every way. 23 For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25 nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. 26 From one ancestor he made all peoples to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, 27 so that they would search for God and perhaps fumble about for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. 28 For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’” Acts 17:22-28a
Paul tells us that our search for God will lead us to ourselves…and back to God again. Our identity and existence are directly tied in together with God’s very essence and existence. Remember, Genesis 1 tells us that we bear the likeness of God in our deepest self. We are alive because God is alive in us. We live and move and have our being in God…which means:
We live: Our breath, our very life, comes directly from God
We move: Our purpose is to love God and be loved by God; our actions are to demonstrate God to and for the world.
We have our being: The very essence of our essence is God. Apart from this we cease to exist.
Easter is the season of the church life that is centered around life: the death and then resurrection of Jesus; the birth of the church (which receives its power on Pentecost); a new way of living in the ways of Christ.
During this Easter season, I encourage all of us to take time each day to reflect on the three points above: We live; We move; We have our being. Take time to reflect on God’s presence and action in your life. Prayerfully consider what it means to have God as the source of your life, essence, and identity. Act in ways that bring forth the reality of God to this world.
A blessed season of Easter to all!
Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!