What's my Identity?

This past weekend, I both finished reading the book, Divergent, and watched the movie.  I have to admit, the book was quite compelling and better than the movie.  I did, however, enjoy seeing the Chicago landscape in the background of the movie version.

The premise of Divergent lies in a futuristic dystopian society.  As a means of survival, the remaining population divided themselves up into five factions.  The factions were based on a human trait each valued the most.  The identify of the person becomes lost in the faction.  "Faction before Family" is the community motto.  A person would forever choose a faction based on a choice made at age 16, guided by the results of a mandatory aptitude test.

People who had an aptitude for more than one faction were considered "divergent," and therefore dangerous, as they had a greater capacity for free thinking, that could not be contained in a single identity.  The heroine of the novel struggled continually with her identity and her purpose.  She was divergent.

In church this morning, one of our teaching pastors, Pastor Jack, gave the message.  He spoke about our identity in Christ.  He made this statement, "God has a plan and a purpose for our lives.  But, we can't grasp this plan until we understand who we are in Christ." Indeed, he went on to say, "My identity defines my destiny."

You see, just like in the movie, we attempt to find our identity in the world around us: in our family, in our relationships, in our jobs, in our achievements, in our sins, or in our hobbies.  But, we won't find our true identity in these things, and we won't find our true purpose in these things.  Jack showed us what it means to have an identity in Christ.  We are chosen, adopted, accepted, redeemed, and sealed by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 1).  Once we truly understand that is our identity, we can see God's plan and purpose for our lives.  Jack closed with this neat video.

"May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.  Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God." ~Ephesians 3:19 (NLT)