Who Am I?

The three major questions in our life are; Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? Identity. These are questions that everyone sometime or another will ask. It may come early in life or later but the questions will be asked.

At the age of ten, sitting beside an old trunk of family pictures and papers, I begin my search for who I am. I have continued that search throughout my life trying to answer the questions of life.

These basic questions have to do with personal identity. In order to establish who I am, I must first establish my beginnings before I can truly find my place in the family. There are certain items that help in the determination of who I am. First, I must have parents. This is the beginning of who I am. I am part my mother, part my father and part of their ancestral beginnings. I am unique in the fact that I have my own personal identity that is a culmination of all my grandparents back to Adam and Eve.

Next, there is the record of my birth. This is the document that states I am legally the child of my mother and father. There is a date, time and place where my birth occurred. There is proof of who my parents are, their names, dates of birth, race, occupation and place of residence is listed. This document contains the name given to me by my parents. It is by this name that I will be known for the rest of my life.

With my birth came an extended family. This family is divided between my mother and father’s family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I inherited family characteristics that can be observed in my brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, and cousins. All these are only the physical traits that I have, they are not necessarily who I am as a person. Yet, they will have a major impact on whom I become.

Identity is a vital necessity of life. We must be able to establish identity for every aspect of life. We are assigned numbers, codes and passwords for the everyday transactions of life. We are photographed, fingerprinted, and DNA logged to establish who we are in reference to our physical identity. Yet, this does not tell me who I really am. It only identifies who I am in reference to the information stored about me.

The identity of who I am, is more than physical it is spiritual as well. After all man was created two-third spiritual and only one-third physical. I may be able to establish and identify my physical characteristics but I must establish who I am spiritually.

There must be a birth. The command you must be born again is still applicable today as it was in the day that Jesus first made this statement. Just as with my physical birth there is a record of my spiritual birth. Rejoice that your names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. This spiritual birth comes from my repentance and acceptance of Jesus Christ. I become part of the spiritual family of Jesus Christ. My identity is established by spiritual birth. There is recorded in heaven a time, and place that my birth occurred. It is witnessed by the Holy Spirit bearing witness with my spirit that I am a child of God who has been spiritually re-born in His image. This is the inner assurance that I have in Jesus Christ.