Are you defined by who people think you should be or by who God says you are? I know that too much of my life, even to this day, can be spent on trying to fulfill other peoples “expectations” of me. Like, what kind of pastor, husband, father, friend, neighbor, etc… I should look more like.

I can really get tired, bitter and even feel depressed when I jump on the “gerbil wheel” of trying to meet those expectations, because I use so much of my time and energy and ultimately fall short of meeting those expectations when it’s all said and done with.

One thing that has been helpful is taking time to deliberately and deeply consider who I really am. God tells us that when we become part of his family we take on a new identity (2 Corinthians 5:17), our old identity is actually completely different or foreign (1 Peter 2:11), we have a new purpose for life (Galatians 2:20) and a never-ending source of power for living this new life (John 14:15-17, 26; 16:5-8; Acts 1:8).

The bottom line is that when we live in our true identity, we begin to experience a “life that is truly life” (1 Timothy 6:19).