WHO ARE YOU?

WHO ARE YOU?

Prominent among the things, I vehemently believe, that the average young man/woman struggles with is to know who he/she is. One may not want to readily accept this fact, but as much as you would want to disagree with it, its consequential implications on not only the individual but also on the society at large is irrefutable. The average young man/woman is being plagued by what is psychologically known as 'identity crisis'. He doesn’t know who he is. This crisis of identity, as we shall understand later, I believe very strongly, is what is responsible for the depravity and lawlessness that sadly characterizes our modern society. Quite a considerable number of young people have engaged — and are still engaging — in all kinds of stuff that are out-rightly bad, and of course, not responsible of them all in the name of youthful exuberance. The average young person silently cries to know who exactly he is because he knows intuitively that, tied to the awareness of his identity, is his success and ultimate fulfillment in life, and of course he is not wrong! That’s exactly the truth.

People have joined all sort of bad gangs, evil associations and Godless societies in a bid to find themselves. A lot of ladies have sadly traded their dignity and value for no reason other than trying to find who exactly they are. Some have given up on themselves and their future just because they have been made to believe that they cannot be successful. They have allowed external influences to define their identity. The rich is struggling to know who he is because riches does not sustain the capacity to define your identity; the poor man is struggling to know who he is, why? Because, poverty cannot reveal to you who you are; the educated, as well as the ignorant man is not left out of this search for identity, because neither education nor ignorance can unveil you to you. We have quite a lot of angry and frustrated educated people out there in our society who do not know who they are. Their education has failed in revealing themselves to them and of course that’s the truth because education is only meant to refine you not to define you. Probably  as you are reading this now, you are also yet to be fully aware of who you are. You don’t even know 'you' because you have not really been introduced to you. Some people have been living their entire lives based on the identity that their culture, background, past, society and culture gave them. That’s an aberration! The truth is, if you don’t live you, you will live what you have accepted from others to be you, and trust me, that’s a failure already from the start. If you don’t live you, you will never be truly successful. It’s an uncomfortable truth. Everything you are sent to come and do on earth is tied to who exactly you are. So, if you don’t know you, your whole life will, I’m sorry to confess, be nothing but a waste.

A story was told by Myles Munroe, the late internationally recognized renowned speaker and Author, in his book, the spirit of leadership, of a young lion who was captured by a farmer while he (the lion) was a baby. The farmer brought him (permit me to use humanly personify it) home, and began to take care of him. The baby lion began to grow together with the sheep of the farmer till it became really grown to an extent —  at least to the extent that it could go out together with the sheep to go and find food for themselves. His living among the sheep had so much shaped his orientation of who he was that he didn’t even know that he was actually a lion. He thought he was also a sheep just like the rest of his friends. Each time they went on an adventure to feed, there was this old lion that used to appear to them and of course, in a bid to also find food for itself, would chase them off, and sometimes killed some of them. Quite a lot of them lost their lives to this dreaded enemy. Each time he showed up against the sheep, everyone would run for dear life including the young lion. He was in total ignorance of who he was. He never knew he was also a lion. This young lion then one day, as he was drinking water (probably in a stream) together with his sheep friends suddenly realized that the image of himself he was seeing in the water actually looked like the lion that used to come harass them  —their most dreaded enemy. He didn’t understand what was happening. Could he be daydreaming or what? How come he looked exactly just like the enemy they all feared?

Then, there comes this day that would mark a remarkable day in the life of this young lion. They went as usual to find food for themselves, and here comes their ever dreaded enemy who was at this time very hungry for food.  As he appeared, the sheep all took to their heels — who wants to die after all? — and run for dear lives. But this young lion stood. He never ran away. He however discovered that the attitude of the old lion to him was actually different. He realized that the old lion didn’t make attempt to eat him up, as he would, were any of his sheep friends to be in similar situation. As the old lion roared, he too decided to make similar noise, and here comes the voice of identity, that echoed and thundered throughout the place where he stood together with his supposed enemy. The young lion that day discovered that he was exactly like the enemy standing in from of him. He came to the discovery of who he was finally, and that was the end of his being with the sheep at home. He followed the old lion into the jungle. His habitation changed for life! The next time he would show up at that spot where he discovered his identity, it was to find food to eat And guess what the food this time around was? One of the sheep he had earlier been moving with.

The discovery of himself not only changed his habitation but also his nutrition and ultimately his orientation.

Maybe the reason why you still keep bad company is that you have not discovered who you are, and so you think keeping company with people who are obviously not helping you would suffice for not knowing who you are. You were a decent lady before until you met a friend that lured you into sexual promiscuity. You have spent a good number of years now laying on the bed of immorality  and trading the essence of your womanhood with guys who obviously are also suffering from the identity crisis you are suffering from. You were doing fine and okay with your life until a guy came into your life, defined you for you, and you surrendered your heart to him only for you to realize that he was largely irresponsible and was only interested in damaging your future and puncturing your glorious destiny out of which would flow away the virtue of success and dignity. You don’t know who you are.

The most important person you must get to know is you. Your success in life is a function of living your identity. When your identity is in obscurity, all that you do will be nothing but a piece of nonentity They will never count! You must know who you are. Most of the people whom God greatly and mightily used in times of old, as carefully documented in the scriptures, were people whom God unveiled them to them. God ensured that he showed them exactly who they are because he knew that all that he would ever need them to do for him would be tied to their knowledge of who they were actually. When he came to Gideon, he told him, “thou mighty man of valor”. This was a man who was completely out of touch with who he truly was, living his normal life, and complaining also with the rest of the people of how bad their situation had been an how that God had forgotten them. Gideon initially protested because he had so much accepted what his background and origin spoke about him. His lineage according to him was nothing to be reckoned with in Israel so if God would have chosen anyone to lead his people (the children of Israel) to battle, it could not have been him. He sourced his identity in his family lineage, and he was largely wrong!

This is the same situation with so many of us. We tend to define ourselves by our circumstances, our situations, background and culture. In fact, some people are living based on what the opinions of their friends say about them. Some have resorted to living a mediocre and an average life because they have allowed their academic status and the comments of their teachers to define their reality. They have forgotten that their institution, society, friends, family were not at all a factor when God fabricated their constitution. When God designed you in eternity, your teachers were not there, and even your present circumstances were not in existence. God created you regardless of all the things you are now considering excuses for living below what God intended for you. Your birth might even be a mistake —  a product of marital infidelity or even a rape — but your creation by God was not! Your identity in God is independent of the circumstances surrounding your birth in time. God didn’t intend for you to live by the reality of your circumstances. He intend for you to live by the reality of your identity. Until you know who you are, every other thing will not work. Until you have a contact with the essence of your identity, you will never truly be fulfilled. Who are you?

The Lord Jesus Christ, the most successful man that has ever walked this earth was 12 years old when he was already sitting down in the company of men older than him in age, stature, wisdom and experience asking questions from them. He would later to respond to his mother and father after they had come back to the temple looking for him, that he must be about his father’s business. What do you mean Jesus? You mean at age 12, you must be about your father’s business? Who introduced to you your father’s business? And even if you would be be about your father’s business, should it not have been in the carpentry workshop — where his earthly father, Joseph, worked —and not in a temple where the teachers of the law are. He knew his real father — the God of heaven. The society called him the son of a carpenter but he called himself the Son of God. If all that you call yourself is all that the society calls you, you are a failure already because the society will never define your true essence. At best, they will give you the aberrated version of your reality. He never called himself the Son of a carpenter but the Son of God. What do you call yourself? A Marlian? No, God didn’t create you that in that guy’s image. He created you in his own, I mean his very own, image. But sadly what you define yourself by is the image that Marley gave you; that which the society gave you; what  your teachers gave you; what your peers gave you; that which your culture calls you; what your background or upbringing gave you; and sadly what your past gave you. You cannot succeed that way. Break free from all these bondage and seek to know yourself in God. This is not just to motivate you but to actually inspire you to connect to your true essence in God. Who are you?

The day a man named Jabez in the scriptures broke free from the reality of his nomenclature, which had been sorrowfully given to him by his mother whom the scriptures says gave birth to him in sorrow, hence, the reason for the nomenclature — jabez; and he decided to seek the face of God, he discovered his true self. You have so long defined yourself by what your family called you or what your background called you or what your result called you — a failure. Break free today and seek to know who you are in God. The man Joseph also described in the scriptures went through a lot of trying times in his life. He was consistently beaten down by the circumstances of life: firstly  betrayed by his own blood brothers, sold to slavery in an unknown land, accused of an offense he never truly committed by the wife of his master, landed in jail, and even forgotten by the very person in whose life he had played a significant role in restoring him back to his position. He however, never allowed the reality of his seemingly unending circumstances to redefine his life. He lived all through by the reality of his God given identity, and he eventually became the Prime Minister in a strange land. Your identity is what will take you to the palace and bring you in front of kings. Who are you?

When you know who you are, life becomes meaningful and purposeful, and living becomes simplified. The reason why you are still being tossed to and fro by the vicissitudes of life is that you don’t who you are. When you know who you are, you will know exactly why you are here (purpose); what you can do (potential); and where you are going (destiny). 

In the biblical account of the fall of man, the serpent (Satan) subtly 

entered into the world of man and sowed a seed of rebellion into his (man) against his creator. He reintroduced man to himself but with an ulterior motive and an ultimate aim that man might rebel against God. God had created the man in his own image and likeness but the devil came and told man that if he ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (the very tree God had forbidden them from eating), he (man) would be like God. Meanwhile, the man was already in God’s image and likeness but he never knew who he was. His ignorance of his essential nature cost him his habitation in the garden. He rebelled against God in obedience to the voice of the devil, and was consequently sent out of the garden (the haven of God).  When you get your identity from the devil, he corrupts your nature and orchestrate your ejection from the garden of destiny. 

How do you know who you are?

1. Know God: In knowing who you are, don’t look into yourself first or unto others (friends, family, relatives, etc) but unto God. Myles Munroe says, a product cannot get his identity from another product. It doesn’t just work. It can only truly get his identify from the manufacturer. Your manufacturer is God, the creator of the heavens and the earth. In looking into him, you must first enter into a relationship with him. This can only be achieved by believing in his only begotten son whom he had sent to come and die for your sins that you might be redeemed and be reconciled back to him. You have lived the whole of your life up to this point in rebellion (sin), you must have to confess them and repent of them all. Believe then in Jesus sacrifice on the cross for you, and confess him as your lord. Invite him into your heart as lord and savior. When that is done  your relationship with him is established. Then he can introduce you to you

     2. Study his word: having established a relationship with God  you must not begin to Study his word. The word of God contains his intents, plans and purposes for making generally speaking and for you particularly. Seek to know his word and to know his plans for you. Let your identity be determined by the word of God and not the word of men. Ask God to reveal yourself to you as you study his word, and he will. He desires that you know who you are for to that is tied the accomplishment of what he has sent you to do on this earth.

     3. Prayer: prayer is one of the systems established by God primarily to facilitate the advancement of his kingdom on earth. Central however to the advancement of God’s kingdom is an agent called man — yes, you and I — but the regenerated man (one who has established a relationship with God) actually. Without you knowing who you are, you will not be able to play your role in advancing God’s kingdom which is the essence of your purpose on earth. Prayer, therefore is a very important means of getting God to reveal you to you so that you can effectively play your role as an agent to facilitate the advancement of his kingdom. A man named Jacob in the scriptures was destined by God to be the progenitor of his people (the Israelite). He was going to be the bearer of the covenant God made with his forefather Abraham. However, until he discovered who he was truly was, he was a cheat and his life was traveling fast in the wrong direction until a day when he wrestled with God in prayer. He had his name changed from Jacob (meaning, a cheat) to Israel (meaning the prince of God) — his true identity. You don’t know who you are until you pray. Engage God in prayers until he reveals to you who you are.

    4.  Seek to discover your purpose: an important precursor to who you are is 'why you are'. There is no manufacturer that creates a product without first conceiving in his heart the reason for the product. The same with God You are not an accident, this I have greatly emphasized. You were purposely brought into this world. Your purpose in the mind of God was what determined your make up and design.

    Thank you very much and God bless you. i sincerely believe you have been greatly blessed by this write up. You can read up some other inspiring ones available here on this platform. Once again, God bless you

.     I am Olakunle Orimaye Paul.

       I Write. I Speak. I Inspire

i

i

i