Finding Identity Challenge

Do you like a challenge?

My wife and I just returned from a trip to Nashville, TN. While there, we had the opportunity to stay at the Bobby Hotel. This unique hotel is in the center of downtown Nashville. So, it was within walking distance of several landmarks, including the Ryman Auditorium, home of the Grand ‘Ole Opry.

One of the unique surprises of the hotel was that it had a bus on its roof. Yes, you read correctly. When we went to the rooftop to check out one of their restaurants, we found a full-sized touring bus on the roof of the hotel. As part of the restaurant, people can eat their dinner or meet with friends inside the bus. When looking out the bus windows, you see the tops of the buildings around the hotel.

After taking a tour of the bus, we were interested in how they moved the bus to the top of the hotel. To move a full-sized tour bus ten stories, in the middle of a city, and then support it so it could be used as part of the restaurant must have been an engineering challenge. We found out that, one part of moving the bus included three different cranes simultaneously raising the bus.

Finding Identity Challenge

The challenge that we have for you is much easier than trying to lift a bus, yet much more important. If you have reviewed any of the materials on our website, it should be obvious that we are passionate about identity. Specifically, we have a singular passion about redeeming identities; helping individuals discover and live out of the identity that God created for them.

The importance of identity comes from the focus God places on it. Throughout the Bible, God communicate the important of our identity to Him, since our identity influences everything that we think, feel, and do. The Bible represents identity as our “heart” and that we need to pay attention to it, because it is the source of everything we do.

“Keep your heart (identity) with all vigilance. For from it flow the spirngs of life.” Proverbs 4:23

Although we are primarily interested in the Biblical concept of identity, we need to be aware of the prevalence of the concept within our everyday lives and how it influences us. Our challenge this month is to observe how frequently the concept of identity is presented to us. Along with how often, we would like you to also consider where the concept of identity is presented. So, the actual challenge is to take one week during the next month and keep notes about every time that you observe a direct or indirect reference to identity and what they are trying to communicate about who you are or who you should be.

To help with this, let me provide a recent example. During a movie that I saw this afternoon, one of the main characters seemed to win a fight and was going to take her ultimate revenge. At that moment, the mother of the character told the main character, “Show them who you are.” This was to remind her that part of her identity was that doing what was right was a greater priority than fulfilling her need for revenge.

Share What You Find

God’s focus is on our identity, wanting us to have the desire to become who He create us to be. Through this challenge, you will experience how the world has also made identity important, but without the focus on God and His plan for us. We want to discover how much we let the world’s version of identity influence the development of our corrupted identity, keeping us from God’s best.

As you complete this challenge, please let us know what you discover by providing a comment to this article or by sending us an email. As a gift of appreciation for participating in this challenge, if you register for our email newsletter and add a comment to the article, we will send you a Redeeming Identity notebook or notepad. Thank you for participating!