Identity

I was passing through the TSA line in Nashville recently.
A young man was having trouble with his ID.
The system wouldn’t recognize his face.

In frustration, he finally said, “I know who I am.”

That moment has stayed with me.
Isn’t that the struggle of so many today?
We live in a world where identity is questioned, blurred, and confused.
Not only in obvious debates, but also in subtle ways.
People wrestle with expectations, with labels,
with the pressure of who others say they should be.

As a young man, I struggled with this too.
My father was a pastor, two of my brothers following a pastoral calling.
There was a constant expectation that I would one day be a pulpit minister.
Sometimes unspoken.
Sometimes spoken out loud.
But it never felt like my calling..

For years, I wrestled with that.
Was I letting people down?
Was I disappointing God?
Or was He shaping something different in me?

Looking back, I see His hand.
I wasn’t meant for the pulpit.
I was meant to serve differently.
To lead, to build, to write, to worship.
To follow the calling that was mine, not someone else’s.

That’s why knowing your true identity matters.
Not the one assigned by culture.
Not the one pressured by others.
Not the one confused by shifting voices.

But the one given by the One who made you.

Scripture says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

That is where our identity begins.
It’s where we discover our life’s purpose.

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#FirstLightwithNate #Faith #Identity #Purpose #Leadership