Identity Theft: Restore Your Sense of Self and Reclaim Who You Are

A paraphrase of the American Psychological Association defines identity as a person’s sense of self that is set based on physical, psychological, and interpersonal characteristics. In addition, the APA defines identity as a net that captures our sense of self, not only for our unique qualities and characteristics but also concerning our connections with others. Our lives burst with responsibility, sometimes overrun by various roles that we occupy.

We attach labels to denote relationships with others. Sometimes we can feel stripped of the comfort of an identity that we assumed, losing confidence and feeling displaced when we disconnect from roles and relationships whose presence or absence marked personal significance. However, for all that we are and do in life, our identities aren’t limited or bound by the world’s concept of identity, but rather originate with the Creator Himself.

Origins of Identity

God has created us with depth and nuance, gracing our lives with His very own presence. Before performance and prior to becoming a friend, spouse, parent, or colleague, we were created to be His sons and daughters.

He formed us, filled with the delight of being and belonging. His original design included a vision for our lives to be fruitful, abundant, and imbued with the power to subdue evil. Our authority in the earth was intended to be fueled by our relationship with Him and supported by our fellowship with others, together with God and others, establishing our Father and King’s dominion (Genesis 1:26).

Adam and Eve’s identities were established as son and daughter to depend on God as Father and caretaker, and to function interdependently, serving and stewarding. God presented them to each other such that Adam recognized and named Eve, identifying her in alignment with how God created her (Genesis 2:23).

The same Father who had formed Adam by Hand from dust, released life and the Breath of His Spirit into them (Genesis 2:7). Genesis’ early scenes illustrate God’s intentions and humanity’s disconnection, offering insight into how we perceive and experience identity.

Source, Settle, or Starve?

Satan spoke through a serpent, presenting Adam and Eve with a forged opportunity to become like God, though they already were (Genesis 3:5). The first humans traded their God-given status for a false identity, secured by sin.

This is a familiar story, as humankind still experiences impacts from that disruption. Instead of choosing to believe that what God says is true, we settle for attempts to negotiate our worth, toiling and striving. As he did with the fallen angels and later Adam and Eve, the god of this world has persuaded many to succumb to the allure of empty pursuit (2 Corinthians 4:4).

It deceives us into believing that achieving or accumulating outside of God’s provision will secure our identity as being seen, known, and loved, despite already being in full possession of the Father’s great love and esteem toward us.

The same enemy has wormed his way through our consciousness. When we give him space in our lives, it initiates a cycle of limiting beliefs and diminished self-esteem. He seeks to pervert the image of God, twisting our thoughts so that we direct our faith to his lies versus what God has already declared about us.

When we entertain the enemy’s suggestions, we esteem ourselves as less than and different from how God created us to be. Instead of choosing to agree with what God says, we turn our hearts away, grasping at identity, peace, and joy through means that God neither intended nor authorized to fulfill or make us whole.

God is our Source. What we obtain outside of our personal relationship with Him can never approximate or replace God’s perfect will, or highest and best plan. When we search for other paths for salvation and identity, we contrive substitutes that starve our souls. It is only when we direct our hunger and thirst toward His righteousness, that we can be satisfied (Matthew 5:6). There, He aligns into a right relationship with the Father, Savior, and Spirit and restores our true sense of self.

Help for Hurting Hearts

Jesus, as the Word, was sent to heal (Psalm 107:20). As the spoken and Living Word, He is the balm that not only soothes our hurt but also delves beneath the surface to repair and renew what has been battered and bruised by circumstance (John 1:1; Jeremiah 8:22).

Our hearts can rest in the finished work of Christ! Ephesians 2:4-7 tells us that by God’s unmerited favor, we are seated together with Christ at the Father’s right hand. To rest in Christ is to trust Him and receive everything our beautiful Savior has accomplished on our behalf!

He restores, causing us to reclaim our identity and emerge into the next better version of who God imagined from before the beginning (Ephesians 2:10). From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible testifies of the Lord’s love and redemption. The following sections and verses speak to this, highlighting areas of identity for us to affirm and declare as we heal and grow.

Being and Belonging

Identity isn’t just about knowing who we are as individuals. The Cornerstone of our identity, on the other hand, is about knowing who we belong to (Ephesians 2:20-22). We belong to the Most High God, who has unique plans and purposes for our lives.

We are commanded to know that the Lord is God and it is He who made us and we are His; we are His people, and sheep of his pasture (Psalm 100:3). We are not pawns in a cruel chess match between Him and our enemy, even when it feels and appears the opposite.

The Father yielded His own and only Son to remit our sin, suffering, and sickness, working through our lives to conform us to the image of Jesus (Romans 8:29). Christ surrendered His life, in both the living and the dying, to rightly align us with God, transforming our character by the Holy Spirit within.

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. – 2 Corinthians 5:21, NASB2020

Arm and activate.

It is up to us to receive our equipment of spiritual armor, tools, and practical resources, but it is essential to choose to believe what God says by activating it (James 2:17). The enemy will try to condemn and shame us as if we are behaving arrogantly by speaking of ourselves with confidence. Remember, our struggle is not with flesh and blood or personal struggles but against the principalities, rulers, and powers of darkness (Ephesians 6:12).

Therefore, we are not created to live in lowliness. God formed us to extend His kingdom. As the kings and priests that He says we are, we are chosen, empowered, and authorized, to express God’s greatness in the darkest places, in our thoughts, emotions, intentions, and actions.

If you have further questions or need the help of a therapist to restore your self-esteem, contact our office today.

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9 NIV

Eject the enemy.

Satan knows that his timeline for advancing his evil agenda is swiftly narrowing. He may try to leverage all that he can, even through our own mental and emotional health journey, but none of that eclipses our true identity and the authority of Christ in us.

We have an esteemed position, having been placed in Jesus, where we are one with Him, the Father, and the Spirit who lives and breathes through us. The more that we submit to that Truth, we grow in confidence having received God’s esteem. This discomfits and ejects the enemy, underscoring our authority and fortifies our equipping in Christ.

Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7 NASB2020

Next Steps

The Holy Spirit convicts or convinces us of the Savior’s ability to redeem our brokenness. Jesus is the bridge who extended Himself to repair the breached relationship between those created in God’s Image.

He came to not only restore our spiritual nature, but also to elevate our well being mentally, emotionally, and physically to showcase glory through His sons and daughters. This is limited to an elite group of people, but rather shared with all who accept His offer of abundant life.

While your self esteem may not reflect it at present, God has been speaking good over you longer than you’ve known Him. You can embrace that Truth today, responding to what you’ve read by choosing to believe God’s Heart concerning you and responding in faith to receive it as your reality.

It begins with your next decisive step to connect with a mental health professional. It continues as you seek the counseling needed to restore your sense of self, reclaim who you are, and accept the gift of peace that comes from the knowledge of who you really are according to God’s Word.