Embracing Your Divine Identity

The world will tell you that you aren’t good enough. You need to do this, buy that, and act like <insert the latest popular public figure here> to be loved and accepted. You need to have it all, be it all, and do it all. This is what is seen in our culture as “making it” or being successful. I spent most of my youth and early adulthood chasing after it. I was grabbing for anything and everything that might earn me acceptance and appreciation. What I didn’t realize then—and I hope you come to this understanding, too—is that none of that was important. All it does is keep you from the one true source of constant love and acceptance. None of those things could ever fulfill its marketing promise.

What we are all truly searching for and hoping to gain from all these wrong things is our true identity. Our heavenly Father designed us. We need to accept that and love who he created us to be. Our instinct is to compare and judge, trying to figure out who we are through other people. But we can’t have a healthy relationship with anyone if we don’t come to know and accept ourselves completely first. We can’t be truly happy and on fire for our own lives if we’re not sure who we are or what we enjoy. (I do want to point out that we can accept ourselves as we are and still work on improving ourselves, becoming more like Christ.) We can’t fulfill our kingdom purpose here on earth if we are too focused on being someone other than who he created us to be.

Nothing explains this idea better than the story of David trying to wear King Saul’s armor to fight Goliath. King Saul thought that he was helping by providing David with the best armor available. But it didn’t fit David. It wasn’t meant to fit him. David wouldn’t be able to do his work for the kingdom wearing someone else’s gear. Once he removed the ill-fitting armor and found the weapon best suited to his abilities and skills, David was able to face the giant and defeat him.

If we don’t know who we are or where to find our identity, we will go through life wearing other people’s stuff. From the way we look to how we dress and the words we say, if we don’t know who we were created to be, we will let the world mold us into someone else.

I have found that the worldly roadblocks and fleshly distractions that hinder the development of our divinely designed identity are common to most of us. Things like other people’s opinions and expectations, striving for balance, guilt, comparison, the impact of social media, and the goal of perfection keep us from developing our divinely crafted identity.

My best advice on dealing with these roadblocks is intentionality. We go through life mostly on autopilot, worried about our past and/or how our future will turn out. We rarely simply exist in the moment. Instead of letting society, your family, your friends, or the media influence your decisions, you need to choose your path with purpose and intention. In doing so, you can start distinguishing between a full-on closed lane and a simple detour.

My best advice on how to handle distractions is to become more self-aware. With deeper understanding of your character, values, and feelings, outside distractions become weaker and lose control over you. It doesn’t mean that these distractions magically disappear. It just means you’ll have more power and strength to dismiss them. By noticing and acknowledging them, then intentionally turning away, you’ll become strong enough to keep your gaze focused in the right direction.

My hope for you is that you will begin the transformation into embracing your divine identity. This goes beyond simply knowing your value and having an appreciation of your worth. Recognizing your divine identity means recognizing the beauty of your uniqueness because God created you. He made your personality, your features, your interests, and even your “needs improvement” areas. Embracing your divine identity means celebrating your strengths but also recognizing your weaknesses and brokenness, and letting them bring you closer to God. Embracing your divine identity leaves you satisfied by his love and approval, not searching for earthly things to tell you who you are.

I won’t promise you it will be easy. I have been working towards this kind of growth for a very long time, and I still find myself tripping up every once in a while. But I can promise that if you stop trying to wear other people’s armor, the battle gets a whole lot easier.

Jess Gilardi was a mental health therapist in the school system before becoming the full-time chaos coordinator for her family (aka stay-at-home mom). She and her husband have three young kids. Jess started writing in hopes that by sharing her stories and lessons learned, she can help others learn “the easy way.”

Photograph © Ammie Ngo, used with permission