We use the phrase “identity crisis” frequently these days. This term was first coined by a psychologist in the early 1900s. He determined an identity crisis is a developmental event that involves a person questioning their sense of self or place in the world. And who hasn’t felt that way, especially now as our culture shifts?

At one time, society had standards to help define roles and values, establishing our identity. But as those roles and values are challenged, so is our identity. Now it is more likely for one to get lost along the way and question their sense of self and place in the world. Our identity rests on whose voice we listen to.

Paul the Apostle is an example of someone who faced an identity crisis long before it was named that. He was living through a shift in the culture of his day. The Romans had military control of Israel, but they allowed the Jewish people to sort out their own religious problems. Jesus shook things up among both the Romans and the Jewish people, causing problems they had never faced. Much like today, where religious and political unrest abounds.

Shortly after Jesus walked on earth, Paul had an identity crisis. He was a Roman citizen and a part of a religious group known as Pharisees. Those who identified with the Pharisees were strict about behavior based on traditions of the Jewish law. Paul persecuted those who identified with Jesus’ teachings because it was not based solely on Jewish law. He completely identified with the Pharisees, even to the point of killing those who disagreed with him. Paul was a murderer.

When Paul had an encounter with the resurrected Jesus, it threw him into an identity crisis. Paul didn’t believe in miracles or grace, and persecuted those who did. But when he was struck blind, heard the voice of God, and received his sight three days later, he could no longer deny who Jesus was.

This event caused him to question himself and his place in the world. Paul had completely identified with the Pharisees. That is what he built his world on. He listened to and reasoned with other Pharisees who believed the same things. But when Paul experienced God’s grace and miracle working power, he heard another voice.

This voice gave him a new identity and purpose. This identity crisis caused him to become a believer in Jesus’ teachings and miracles. Paul adopted heavenly principles in his life, and this became his new identity. Before this event, he identified with the Pharisees. After he heard the voice of God, he identified with God’s principles and values. Paul’s goal to spread the

gospel of Jesus to as many cities as possible was unshakable. Paul had victory through an identity crisis and this is what he said:

Whose voice are we listening to? Whose principals are we living by? Who do we identify with? If it isn’t Jesus, we are more likely to have an identity crisis. That is because worldly values are always changing, but God’s values never change.

Pastor Josh recently finished a message series on The Kingdom of God, in which he taught there is an unseen world that we can identify with besides the culture of this world. When we listen to God’s voice teaching heaven’s values, we will remain consistent in all our ways. God’s principles cause us to establish values that will see us through anything in life. They will carry us through each role we assume, each societal shift, relational difficulty, health crisis, job change, political upheaval, or any other change we may encounter.

Rather than experience an identity crisis with the changing values of this world, let us grasp the values of the Kingdom of God, like Paul did. Then we will have resolve to face each change as we allow those values to become our guiding light.