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“Roles don’t define our identity. Roles are empowered by our identity.”
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 19.
Which word would you choose to be a part of your life? Would you choose the word “define” or would you choose the word “empower” when it comes to the forces at work in your life?
How can you not choose the word empower? Isn’t that what we all are looking for? Don’t you want to be empowered to do all you can do today? I sure do!
There’s nothing wrong with having definition in our lives. It can be an empowering event to have a previously undefined circumstance in life come into clear focus, there is no doubt. But how often do those defining moments come along? That’s why I want empowerment to be the “defining” word in my life. I can be empowered every moment where I might have to wait to stumble upon a defining moment in life.
We can either seek to have roles define who we are or we can let who we are empower our roles. It’s a really simple choice that takes a conscious, moment by moment decision to choose empowerment over definition. As simple as that is, it sometimes isn’t easy. Why? Because we tend to forget who we are! Identity seems to invoke short-term memory problems in us all.
When we forget our identity the natural tendency is to look to what we do to define who we are. We are trying to suck the power out of what we do to fill the emptied tank of who we are. That strategy works well when what we do happens to be turning out well. When the roles we play turn south our identity tanks remain empty and, it is almost guaranteed when that happens, victim thinking will fill the void.
Let’s take a look at today’s reading in the light of definition vs empowerment.
“Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight, declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 9:23-24 (NIV)
The author of this verse has it right. The wise come to learn that leaning on their strengths (growing our identity from the roles we play) is a futile exercise. What does the author say we are to boast in - identity! That’s right. Jeremiah says that we are to boast in the knowledge of who God is. There is power in knowing who God is.
The victor has learned that roles can never consistently work to define identity. The knowledge of who we are and who God is in our lives is the basis upon which the kinds of wisdom needed to live this life as a victor will come. Though our roles change, God doesn’t. That’s one of the most powerful attributes of God - His unchanging nature. Since we carry God’s image in us, our identity as God’s Child is secure no matter what kinds of profound shifts in roles you will face today.
What are you going to choose today? Is it the temporary and elusive concept of definition when it comes to the roles you will play? Or, will you go after the roles before you with an empowerment that comes from a knowledge of who God made you to be? The choice is yours. Victor living is at hand. Choose to know who you are and let the power of that knowledge make your roles be all they were destined by God to be today.
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