Travelling Lightly: What you need to ditch for 2022 (Part 1)
One of the biggest weights most of us carry is that of our identity. And I believe one of the most transformative actions we can engage in for ourselves and the world around us is to let it go. And I also believe that it is more important than ever to do this.
But what does it mean to let go of our identity?
So many of our interactions with the world and each other clog up our identity. What others around us reflect back to us, our experiences through life and even our theology all greatly impact our sense of who we are. “Shoulds”, “should haves”, “could haves” and “would haves”, as well as a host of other regrets, incriminations and put downs that the enemy loves to use to keep us trapped, take over our being until we feel depleted, unworthy and empty.
How then, does letting go of my identity fill me up?
This is an ongoing journey with a number of layers.
In the first instance, it may be about letting go of the identities we have picked up from others, or even our beliefs about what it means to be a Christian or, indeed, any other label we have placed on ourselves. Mother, sister, brother, teacher, accountant, the brainy one, the dumb one, the good one, the bad one. Even those things we feel good about can become a hindrance. Just another standard we have to keep up to. And sometimes we have played roles for so long, and invested so much into them that we no longer really know who we are.
Another aspect is our preparedness to be vulnerable.
This has been a theme for some time now. The idea of being unveiled or removing the masks we hide behind has cropped up more times than I can remember. I recently came across an album called “Road to DeMaskUs”. It immediately caught my attention as it linked in with so many discussions over the last year or so that seem to constantly land on this same point around identity.
Thinking about the connotations of the road to Damascus, about Paul’s journey which began in earnest there, it was indeed a time of “de-masking” for him. The change was extraordinary, and even led to a name change. In Philippians 3:8, after sharing his worldly credentials, he actually says that they are all dung, refuse, sewerage compared to gaining Jesus. Paul was prepared to get rid of everything rather than it hindering his relationship with the Messiah.
This is something I have been pondering for some time: what it looks like to completely abandon all that our culture considers rights and freedom; what it looks like to completely lay down my life – my identities, including my ego – to the point where I have and am nothing, so that He, living in me, is all.
Many of our identity ideas connect to our will. What we will, desire, want is our way of asserting our identity as an individual. However, I am sensing more and more that so much of this can actually come between us and God. It is an add on.
In the wonderful passage of John 15, where Jesus describes how we are to abide in Him as branches joined in to Him - and if branches, then we must identify with or even as Him, with His life force growing and developing in us, His DNA becomes ours. As He continues, discussing our relationship with each other, He talks of “laying down our lives” for each other.
Doing a quick word search into the original language, the word translated “life” could also refer to “soul”, meaning our heart, our passions, our will and desires. Sounds like our identity to me. In our individualistic society, that’s a pretty tall order! How many of us are willing to put others ahead of us to that degree?
And yet, in our relationship with Jesus, we know this is what He requires. How successful we are is a whole other discussion.
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life [IDENTITY] will lose it, but whoever loses his life [IDENTITY] for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul [IDENTITY]? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul [IDENTITY]?”
(Matt 16:24-26, ESV).
Am I prepared to become nothing, no one, in order to increase in oneness with Jesus? Just as John the Baptiser said, “It is necessary for him to increase and for me to decrease” (John 3:30 TPT). The only way I can become one with Jesus is for me to decrease. He certainly won’t! And yet, we are told that this is the place in which we truly find abundant life and freedom.
In my own journey, the rubber has really been hitting the road with this in the last couple of years. It is in those places of rejection, lack of acknowledgement, hurt, disappointment, those places where it feels as though I am nothing, worthless - this is the place where I have a huge choice in front of me. Will I try to get vindication, validation from others? Will I come out fighting for my honour and reputation? Do I try to show everyone that you are the bad person, that I am the victim? Or can I lay myself down, allow myself to be crucified as it were? Do I trust all these things to God, even trust that He is in the middle of it all and has a purpose for it - my becoming more like Jesus?
No, it is not easy. Yes, it can be excruciatingly lonely. And no, many will not get it. After all, He did say “but it is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matt 7:14 CJB). Why do I keep thinking, or hoping, it will somehow be different for me?
May 2022 be the year each of us lays down our identities, our egos and our wills to His for the sake of the Kingdom, each other and our world. Imagine the difference it would make. But it starts with me and it starts with you!