Identity Crisis

Ever feel like you just have no clue who you are or what on earth you are doing? If you're a human you probably have felt this way at some point. In fact, you may even feel this way right now. For some it comes along like Batman here. You get a sense of needing to grow up or wondering how you ended up where you did.

Evidently Batman went to school to be an accountant. And now he is, as he puts it, running around in a bat costume as a grown man. This is definitely something we will do however. We get to a point, or many points, in life where we're wondering just what it is we are doing with ourselves. "Why am I here? What are my responsibilities to others? Does anybody care?" It can be quite the traumatic time. The trouble is when we have identity crises or feel like you are having them we usually will look introspectively to fix the manner. "I get help myself, I can get myself out of this, I don't need anyone else."

What is remarkable about this approach is that it takes us to a place that yes is selfish and introspective but when we begin to identify what the problem may be or others begin to identify it for us, all of the sudden we're not so introspective. All of the sudden we become the best goaltenders you have ever seen. "Well, no not me, not my fault. This was this persons fault, or this persons fault. You just don't know what it's really like." It's the classic approach to deflect criticism from others to the external because even though internally I am trying to fix a problem it is not because of me. How confusing!

So what is an identity crisis? The psychology theorist Erik Erikson coined the term identity crisis. He defined it as being a coming of age struggle of sorts that especially a lot of young people go through. Sometimes when we think of an identity crisis we typically think of the middle aged man who goes out and buys a brand new sports car or gets divorced to date younger women to find some source of self identity. In is definitely the case however that most young people deal head on with an identity crisis. Erikson defined identity as, "

a subjective sense as well as an observable quality of personal sameness and continuity, paired with some belief in the sameness and continuity of some shared world image. As a quality of

unself-conscious living, this can be gloriously obvious in a young person who has found himself as he has found his communality. In him we see emerge a unique unification of what is irreversibly given--that is, body type and temperament, giftedness and

vulnerability, infantile models and acquired ideals--with the open choices provided in available roles, occupational

possibilities, values offered, mentors met, friendships made, and first sexual encounters." (Erikson, 1970.)

So what do we do? Well we

usually look for acceptance in areas that are probably not the best areas to be looking. Maybe we even turn to destructive behavioral patterns/habits as a way to find out who we are. Sometimes we push back those we love and who love us in an attempt to fill whatever we feel needs to be filled.

Everybody wants an identity. And everyone should want an identity. But what type of an identity are we looking for? Are we looking for acceptance and an identity that is wrapped up in the world? That is a place where only heartbreak can ensue. We are sinful human beings. The plight of humanity to plunge itself into despair over some identity crisis puts an exclamation point on our depravity. We deflect all responsibility away from ourselves and neglect those around us to selfishly look inside to solve this problem. It's a one way street, and it is one that leads nowhere, because looking inside yourself leads nowhere.

It's like the addict. The addict is not capable of bringing him/herself up from the pit. The addict needs to admit first and foremost that they are helpless and need external help to get healthy. For the sinner, so mired in self and a self of ones own identity, the sinner loses sight of what his/her identity really is: A creature created in God's image.

But it goes even further than that. For those who are baptized, they already have their identity. Their identity is Christ's identity and flowing from that the identity of a body, a family, which supports it in any and all circumstances. Searching intrinsically will only lead you to stay within your own self. When you search inside of self you dig and dig and dig to "get to the bottom" of who you are. Those on the outside your family, the body of Christ, know who you are. You will never find satisfaction in who you are by looking intrinsically. The joy and satisfaction of life come from knowing you are a child of God and no identity crisis can take that away. God claimed you at the font and that is where you belong. The rest of the world may tell you different, but the Word of God is what remains.

And resting in that identity allows us to serve others. The identity of being a baptized believer a part of the priesthood is what gives purpose to life. Finding out this, our baptized identity, leads us outward as justified people serving and living for those around us. The creature does what the Creator asks, and in this baptized state the creature lives for it.