Who am I, and does it matter?

I remember watching the movie "Big" where Tom Hanks plays a boy magically transformed into an adult.  At the end of the movie he asks the leading lady if she would like to go with him to be a kid again.  She declined as she alluded to the fact that adolescense was hard enough the first time.  I can certainly relate.

I remember how high school contained groups of kids with various characteristics.  There were the computer guys who were immersed in the rise of technology.  There were the athletes who were born with excessive amounts of coordination.  There were the socially awkward who struggled to fit in anywhere.  There were the glamourous who had more hair than genuine self confidence.  And of course there were the power drinkers and druggies who were likely struggling to cope with some pain or disappointment. 

And this is certainly not an exhaustive list, but it seems obvious the teenage years are where one begins to search for an identity.  Who am I?  Where do I fit in?  These become the almost subconscious questions that drive so much of teenage behavior.  For some, an indentity comes easily as they are inclined in one direction or another because of solid raising or natural ability.  Yet for others, figuring out who they are is a bit more trying for several different reasons.

Whenever God told Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses responded with the question, "Who am I?"  What is interesting is that instead of answering Moses question directly, God told him, "I will certainly be with you."  It seems implied that Moses' identity need not be his main concern as he is redirected to an aspect of God's identity.

In the last few decades we've heard a lot about self-esteem, being the estimation of self.  People either have a high self-esteem, low self-esteem, good self-esteem, or poor self-esteem.  It appears that God presented Moses with the revolutionary idea of no self-esteem, no estimation of self.

So do some people struggle because of a poor self-esteem?  Certainly.  But the key is not to have a higher estimation of yourself, but to stop focusing on yourself altogether.  So stop searching for your identity and begin focusing on God and His identity.  This is one of the big things Jesus did for us when he came.  He revealed God's identity.

In John 14:9 Jesus said, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father."    

Looking for your own identity?  Try discovering God's identity in the Person of Christ in whom we live, move, and have our being.