Identity Theft.  Not just a soon-to-be-released movie with Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy.  Nor is it some poor misfortune that is someone else's fate.

Nope.  News flash, bloggy friends.  We are ALL victims of identity theft.  This thought occurred to me last week as I hit Target, with my brain spilling over from thoughts and musings as I read the book 7.  (Sorry.  I know you've been hearing me drone on and on about this book by Jen Hatmaker.  I'm pretty sure that I've only just begun.  Please don't break up with me or my blog!  There's nuggets, friends.  Gems to be mined).

I am coming to have fresh eyes to the epidemic of identity theft here in America.  And I'm guessing in Canada, too--shout out to my family and friends there.  And probably much of the first world.  Our true identity has been stolen.  I believe that a very poor substitute has been subtly sold to us in it's place through repetition, the media, and the culture.  

We have come to believe the following about our identity.

--We are what we own.

--We are what we accomplish.

--We are our financial status.

--We are our appearance.  (a pretty face, overweight, or average)

--We are our educational attainment or intellect.  (Or lack thereof).

--We are consumers.  Discontented because we need more.

--We are our failures.  

--We are our limitations and disabilities and diagnoses.

--We are who we know and how well connected we are.

--We are as important as our busy schedules reflect.

--We are all chasing the wonderful American dream.

--We are our church or religious affiliations.

--We are the organizations where we have membership.   

--We are our Facebook statuses and friends list.

--We are all one lucky break from fame and fortune.

--We are all entitled to be treated well and receive good things.

Truly, I could go on and on and on.  This is the identity we have been sold.  We cling to it because it's what we know.  It's what we see.  It's what our culture and our media perpetuate.  It's just who we are.  We don't question it.  We just own it.  

Here's the thing.  It's all propaganda.  It's not truth at all.  It's a replacement identity while our REAL and TRUE identity has been stolen out from under us.  We march along with the masses and just believe what we've been told.  Hook, line, and sinker.  Even those who sit in a church pew every Sunday.  Even those who dive into the Word in between Sundays.   

It has become so ingrained in us that we don't even question our identity.  Someone handed us this ID card with this picture.  It's not even us in the picture.  But, we place it in our wallets and flash it around, claiming it as what identifies us.  Never stopping to really look at it to be sure.  Never taking time to really evaluate it all.  Never really taking time to look in the mirror of His word to establish if what we see is really who we are.  

I don't even know that I can articulate all that is swirling in my head--the jumbled thoughts and half-formed sentences that are coming at me as I unravel all God is teaching me.  But, alas, I shall try.   Bear with me, bloggy friends.  I hope it makes sense.

God is using the truth and challenges of the book 7 to turn me upside down and to stop and question the reality of this identity theft.  And, I'm having some epiphanies.

I was never intended to be a consumer.  I was made to be a giver.  

I was never intended to be a human doer.  I was made to be a human being.  Being transformed to His image as I am being in His presence. 

I was never intended to be a bank account.  I was made to be an innumerable blessing by reflecting His servanthood and thus giving Him glory. 

I was never intended to be a pretty face or perfectly toned body (not that I think I am?!)  Man looks at the appearance, but God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).  I was made to trim the fat of narcissism and selfishness and vanity so that I can be an instrument of His beautiful grace.

I was never intended to be the smart one or the perfect educational pedigree.  I was made to seek and cherish wisdom.  God's wisdom.            

I was never intended to be defined by my limitations or failures.  I was made to surrender them all to Him that I might be used as a jar of clay to show off His perfection.

I was never intended to be defined by who I know.  I was made to remember Whose I am--the One who paid it all to adopt me as an heir. 

I was never intended by fill up my calendar.  I was made to be still and know that He is God.  To sabbath and rest in His righteous right hand that I might be filled up with Him.

I was never intended to chase the American dream or almighty dollar or accolades of men.  I was made to pursue my Creator.

I was never intended to be defined by the organizations I join or the memberships I maintain.  I was made to be identified in Christ alone, with my name written in the Book of Life.

I was never intended to be as important as my list of friends or to feel connected by technology.  I was made to fellowship with the least of these, to sit and dwell and form relationships with those God has placed in my life.  Face-to-face connections--not Facebook connections.  

I was never intended to seek fame and fortune.  I was made to make Him famous and to store up treasures in heaven.

I was never intended to feel entitled.  Nope, while I was yet a sinner, the perfect Son of man died for me.  I am undeserving.  I am called to be humbled.  And to be so in awe of the grace and mercy I don't deserve that I surrender all I am to be all His.

I am a treasured possession, a chosen people, a child of the King of Kings.

I am not perfect.  But, I am forgiven.  

I am not defined by religious affliation or church membership.  I am the church.  I am a member of the body of Christ.  I have a role to fulfill, a purpose to realize.

I was not made to perform or achieve or accomplish.  I was knit and formed to commune with my God and know him more and love him more every day.  End of story.

I am created to be relational.  To be kind.  To be loving.  To be inclusive.  To be the hands and feet of Christ every where I go.  To be so amazed by all He gave that I choose willingly to give all I have to follow Him.  To be humbled enough that I will count all I give up to follow him as rubbish compared to the glory of knowing Him more.

I am a citizen.  Of heaven.  My home is not here.  My mansion awaits.  My best moment of glory on this earth cannot and will not compare to the glory of being face-to-face with my Savior.  I need not dance on the streets of temporary successes because I'll dance on the streets of gold.  I need not be weighed down by earthly possessions because I can't take them with me.  I need to hold loosely to all that is here because I am striving for all the everlasting that is there.   I need to remember that all my strivings, all my efforts, all I give and do and accomplish on this earth will someday boil down to the eternal crowns I'll eagerly and happily cast at His feet.  And I can never give enough.  Now, I see dimly.  Then, I'll see it all.  

Can we catch a glimpse of it NOW?  Intentionally?  With great purpose and pursuit?  Can we fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith?  Can we say ENOUGH to this identity theft, rip up our flimsy false ID, and exchange it for our eternal perspective?  Can we weed out the lies and the deceits from this world and be changed by the truth that is everlasting?  

Oh, that we would.  That we would all stop and say ENOUGH.  I will not receive these lies from the pit of hell.  I am HIS.  And He is mine.  And that is more than enough.  That is who I am.  I belong to the Great I am.