How Do I Respond to Modern Identity Issues As a Christian?

As a son of God, I bear his image. This makes me distinct from every other living creature and gives me extraordinary value. I discover my identity as I reconnect with the one who made me. I am intrinsically valuable, with inalienable rights given to me by God.

This is a solid identity.

In the secular world, identity is no longer found in God, because there is no God. Instead, I decide who I want to be.

Timothy Keller stated, “The modern message is this: Don’t try to get affirmation from others. Affirm yourself because you are doing what you want to do. Be who you want to be, and it doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks.”

This sounds liberating and even reasonable, but it doesn’t work. You cannot ascribe value to yourself. It’s a psychological impossibility. We are mutually affirming social creatures. Only in the context of relationships can we form our identity.
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All we have done is trade God’s view of us for the fickle opinions of equally insecure peers. Left to create our own identity, we find that everything is up for grabs. Even basic biological realities, such as a person’s sex, have been added to the list of identity options.

It’s no wonder that an entire generation has never been more unsure of who they are.

Those who try to escape the opinions of others as the source of their identity grind it out as faithful citizens of the meritocracy. Today, unlike any other time in history, we are ruthlessly defined by what we do.

If I can be successful, fit, or famous, I will know who I am. This might seem like a concrete goal to aim for—if the successful, fit, and famous were actually content. But we only have to look at the lives of celebrities to see misery on display. They have everything and yet often seem to be the most depressed and suicidal members of modern society.
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Nevertheless, hustle culture is alive and well. The internet is teeming with podcasts, articles, and influencers pushing the lie that if we do more, and do it right, then we will be satisfied.

Get more + do more + experience more = be more.

Is it any wonder we are anxious and burned out?

Apologist Nancy Pearcey wrote, “Once a society accepts a worldview, it tends to work out the logical consequences.”

People are beginning to experience the devastating effects of trying to form an identity apart from God. They are tired, desperate, and ready for the truth.

As Christians, our response to modern identity issues is to share the truth; clearly, boldly, and with the confidence that we alone have the remedy to rescue a world frantically trying to figure out who they are.