IDENTITY CRISIS

I was talking to my wife the other day, and said something a Christian isn’t supposed to say.

“Have you ever wondered whether Jesus and His Gospel is real?”

(and)

“I mean, don’t you think from time to time every believer has struggled with just a little doubt about His identity?”

I know questions like this aren’t politically correct, (or would it be spiritually correct) but I think if we, as believers, are prone to ask such questions, it will probably occur during a time of crisis, when our faith is challenged, and when we need to know that we know that the faith we are investing is being invested in the Truth.

Now, to be sure, I have endured many struggles during my fifty plus years on this Christian journey, and I don’t recall the first or the last time I ever questioned the authenticity of Jesus’ claim to be the Savior and Messiah of the world. But we are frail, fickle human beings, and if you have ever walked the same pathway as the character, “Christian” of the novel, “Pilgrim’s Progress” I think you must have entertained such questions.

I mean, don’t we want to get it right? Don’t we want to know that we know the God-man whom we refer to as ‘Lord’ will be the One who will meet us on the other side, and will smile, and say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”

And, interestingly enough, the foregoing thesis is coming from the same guy who authored a discipleship program which includes two major focuses. “9 Things a New Christian Should Know and Do” and “5 Proofs That God is God and Jesus is His Son.”

Pt. 2

But I think 95 percent of believers will admit, “Yes, I’ve been there;” (and I’m convinced the other 5 percent are liars). As I have previously inferred, I don’t recall the first or last time I have questioned the sincerity of the fellow who made that startling claim to Saviorhood and Messiahship. But, I assure you, I have.

As my wife and I were entertaining that theoretical question the other day, and as we were talking about those among us who are prone to wonder, I experienced one of those so-called ‘epiphanies.’

“Jesus never questioned His own identity.”

Dear readers, although I have occasionally questioned whether the Jesus of the Bible was “the real McCoy,” I have NEVER wondered if He entertained this question about Himself. I mean, it is apparent that He knew that He knew who He was, and why He, as God, had chosen to have a new experience, and put on this fleshly disability that He would wear for all eternity; to divest Himself of Omnipresence and Glory, and contain Himself in the body of a common man.

My friends, though I may have occasionally questioned the identity of the One who loved me and gave Himself for me, I have never questioned whether He, Himself believed His own claims. I am convinced that Jesus NEVER experienced what we refer to as an “identity crisis.”

As a counselor, I understand there are some among us who are “puffed up,” narcissistic, self-assured and generally “taken up” with themselves, and they may ever be prone to make audacious claims about themselves. (And I think some of these folks are actually so insecure that they find themselves “putting on an act” for the benefit of their “viewing audience”).

Pt. 3

And, no doubt, there were people in Jesus’ day who believed He was one of those poor, demented, troubled souls, and who questioned the reality of His claims.

However, if one man, among possibly 100 billion human beings who ever lived, could make the claim to be the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Creator of the Universe, the Way, the Truth and the Life, the Good Shepherd, the Savior and Messiah of the world, it was Jesus Christ.

There was an old television series called, “Dragnet.” And in this particular series, the main character would often utter the words, “Just the facts, Ma’am.”

Well, my friends, the Jesus of the Bible gave us the facts, and challenged us to invest our faith in the only One in whom we can invest all our trust. He simply never questioned His own identity, nor attributes, nor the reality of His Father in heaven, nor the purpose for which He came.

This is the One who made the audacious claim to His disciples,

“I AM the Way. I AM the Truth. I AM the Life. No man comes to the Father, except through Me.”

He is the One who admonished Thomas,

“He who has seen Me has seen the Father.”

This is the One who challenged the religious leaders,

“Before Abraham was, I AM.”

He is the One who has assured you and me,

“Lo, I AM with you always, even to the end of the world”

No, my friends. Jesus NEVER experienced an identity crisis.

He knew who He was, and whose He was, and the purpose for which He put off His glory and assumed the body of a man, a body which he would wear for all of eternity, and one which he put on in order to fulfill the demands of a just God, and to more fully identify with His own creation.

Thank God, Jesus never experienced an identify crisis. This is a God in whom we can invest all our faith, all our hopes and all our expectations.

by William McDonald, PhD. Copyright pending

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“For we do not have a High Priest Who is incapable of empathizing with our weaknesses, but He was tempted in each and every way that we have been tempted, but without giving sway to that temptation and resulting sin.

“Let us approach the throne of Grace without the slightest hesitation, so we may receive mercy, and grace to help when there is nowhere else for us to turn.” (Hebrews 4:15-16. McDonald Paraphrase of the New Testament)