Rediscovering Our True Identity: What It Means to Be Human
The following sermon was delivered on 21 July 2024 as the first part of our Being Human Series. In it, Tim Horman explores what it means to be created in the image of God. Tim discusses modern culture's emphasis on self-determination and the resulting mental health crisis, emphasizing that true identity and worth come from being God’s beloved creations.
If you prefer to listen or read, you can find audio and text summaries of this sermon below.
Everyone has that one place where they feel completely at peace, where the worries of the world seem to fade away. For some, that place is Galiano Island in Canada, a rare spot on earth where one can feel deeply connected to creation. It's a place where life seems to slow down, and the beauty of the world wraps around you like a warm blanket. Many have spent time there, soaking in the natural beauty, resting, and reconnecting with what it means to simply be alive. But, as with all beautiful experiences, time there never seems to last long enough. Ordinary life inevitably comes crashing back in, leaving people longing for more.
It’s interesting how that happens. People experience something truly beautiful, yet they can't hold onto it. It's like trying to capture the wind in their hands—the more they try, the more it slips away. It’s frustrating, almost like a kind of grief. Everyone has those moments where they catch a glimpse of something extraordinary, and then it's gone, leaving them with the feeling that something's missing, as though they’re not quite where they belong.
Longing for Something More
This feeling isn’t new. In fact, philosophers and thinkers have wrestled with this idea for centuries. Martin Heidegger, a German philosopher, once said that to be human is to experience alienation—as if people are thrown into this world without a guidebook, left to figure it out on their own. Even though this is the only world people have ever known, they can’t shake the sense that it’s not the world they were made for.
C.S. Lewis, another great thinker, described this feeling as a longing for a “far-off country.” In his famous sermon, The Weight of Glory, he talks about how people have this deep desire for something they’ve never fully experienced—a place or a state of being that feels like home. But here’s the thing: even though they can’t pinpoint exactly what they’re longing for, they can’t seem to escape this yearning. It’s as though they’re haunted by the memory of a place they’ve never been but somehow know exists.
So, what’s going on here? Why do people feel this way?
The Echo of Eden
The Bible suggests that humans were made for something much more than what they experience now. In the beginning, humanity was deeply connected with God, with creation, and with one another. Genesis describes this as life in Eden—a place of perfect peace, beauty, and harmony. But the story took a turn when, because of sin, humans were banished from Eden, and that deep connection was broken. Yet, the memory of Eden remains imprinted on their hearts. It’s like a distant echo they can’t quite hear clearly but can’t ignore either.
In their search to fill this void, people often turn to achievements, relationships, or possessions. But as Lewis pointed out, these things, while good, can’t satisfy that deep longing. They’re like “the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard.” People end up chasing after these things, hoping they’ll provide a sense of identity and purpose, but they always fall short. They can't give what’s truly being searched for.
The Search for Identity in a Confusing World
In today’s culture, people are often told that the answers to life’s big questions can be found deep inside themselves. “Be yourself,” “Follow your heart,” “You do you”—these are the mantras of the age. But is this really working? If we're honest, this approach is leaving many more confused, anxious, and disconnected than ever. The pressure to create and sustain their own identity is immense, and it’s taking a toll on their mental and emotional health.
The problem lies in the fact that people aren’t designed to bear the weight of building their own identity. They need something—or someone—greater than themselves to tell them who they are. This is where the Christian understanding of identity comes in. The Bible teaches that humans are made in the image of God—that their worth, value, and purpose come from Him, not from anything they do or achieve. This is good news because it means their identity is a gift from God, not something they have to earn or create.
What Does It Mean to Be Made in God’s Image?
So, what does it mean to be made in the image of God? It means that every single person, regardless of their abilities, achievements, or circumstances, has inherent value and dignity. This isn’t something they can lose or something that can be taken away. It’s a gift from God, given to all equally.
Consider this: if a person’s worth was based on their performance or abilities, it would mean that some people are more valuable than others, and that’s simply not true. The Bible makes it clear that everyone bears God’s image, providing a sense of identity that is stable, secure, and unshakeable.
Finding Our True Identity in Christ
However, because of sin, this reflection of God’s image is distorted. Humans are like broken mirrors that don’t reflect His glory as they were meant to. But that’s where Jesus comes in. Jesus is the perfect image of God, the one who perfectly reflects God’s nature. Through His life, death, and resurrection, He makes it possible for humanity to be restored, to once again bear God’s image as they were intended to.
When people place their faith in Jesus, they receive a new identity. They are no longer defined by past mistakes, failures, or even successes. They are defined by who they are in Christ—children of God, deeply loved, and valued beyond measure. This is the foundation for a stable identity, one that doesn’t crumble when life gets tough.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion
As individuals and groups reflect on these ideas, here are a few questions to consider, either personally or in a small group setting:
Have you ever felt a deep longing for something more in life? How have you tried to satisfy that longing?
What are some of the things our culture tells us to build our identity on? How have these things worked (or not worked) for you?
What does it mean to you personally to be made in the image of God? How does this understanding impact the way you see yourself and others?
In what ways have you experienced the pressure to create your own identity? How does the idea of receiving your identity as a gift from God change that perspective?
How can we encourage each other to find our true identity in Christ rather than in the temporary things of this world?
Moving Forward
Finding identity in Christ is a journey, but it’s a journey worth taking. When people build their sense of self on the unshakeable foundation of who they are in Jesus, they find the peace, security, and purpose they’ve been longing for. As they reflect on where they’re looking for their identity, they can remember that they don’t have to create it on their own—it’s a gift from God, one that will never fade or fail.
Transcript
A Place of Peace and Beauty
I wonder if you have a place you like to go where you feel most alive, most at peace, most at home in the world. For me, that place is a location in Canada called Galiano Island, which is one of the Gulf Islands between Vancouver Island and the mainland. We have some friends there who own a small farm, and we often stay there among their sheep, vegetable garden, and deer. The farm is situated right on the water, surrounded by trees and mountains, in what I think is one of the most beautiful and peaceful places on the planet.
Melissa and I would often stay there to rest and recuperate. The farm had a number of cabins, and we would stay in one of those, looking out over the water. At certain times of the year, you could see orcas migrating through the water. Sometimes seals or sea otters would come up onto the beach to sun themselves. One day, we went for a hike along a ridge and ended up at eye level with bald eagles just floating on thermals over the cliff, barely an arm's length away. At night, you could kayak out onto the sea, and if you dipped your fingers in the water or as you paddled, the water would light up with brilliant phosphorescence, like the sea was on fire.
The Fleeting Nature of Beauty
Now, perhaps it's just nostalgia, but time spent on Galiano felt to me like a brief glimpse of something truly human—a truly human existence as God intended it. As described in Genesis chapter 1, life is something deeply integrated with creation, at peace, without fear, close to the Earth, surrounded by beauty, and by the freedom of wild things.
But sadly, the time we spent there, though beautiful, wouldn't last. And that's the way it is whenever we encounter something beautiful—we can't hold onto it for long. Ordinary life comes crashing in, inevitably leaving us feeling frustrated. It's almost like a kind of suffering, a kind of grief.
The Human Condition: Alienation and Longing
The German philosopher Martin Heidegger said in the early 20th century that to be human is to experience alienation. He suggested that we're basically thrown into this world and have to make the best of it, even though no one really knows what they're doing or why we're here. And even though this is the only world we've ever really known, we weirdly feel like it's not the world we belong in, as if it's not the world we were made for.
C.S. Lewis describes this sense of alienation as our longing for a far-off country. In one of Lewis's most famous sermons, The Weight of Glory, he writes:
"In speaking of this desire for our own far-off country, which we find in ourselves even now, the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia or Romanticism, the secret also which pierces with such sweetness, the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both. We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience. We cannot hide it because our experience is constantly suggesting it. Our commonest expedient is to call it Beauty and behave as if that settled the matter. The books or the music in which we thought this beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them. It was not in them; it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things are good images of what we really desire, but if they are mistaken for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited."
The Longing for Eden
I love that: "the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited." I honestly think that is one of the best descriptions of our fallen human condition that I know of. What Lewis is saying is that to be human is to be torn between the desire for something that we've been made for and the frustration of unfulfilled longing because we cannot access it.
As Genesis 3 tells us, we're banished from Eden because of our sin. Yet the memory of Eden—this longing for our true home, this far-off country—remains deeply embedded in us, like it's in our bones. As the Scriptures say, we have eternity in our hearts. We were created for worship, to receive and reflect the glory of God. Yet without God, we cannot do this, so we seek to experience this through "dumb idols," as Lewis calls them—temporary things.
The Idols of Our Age
Every generation has its particular sins and idols. In our secular culture, which has pushed God out from the center to the margins, the primary idol we now look to for meaning and identity is ourselves. As David Brooks of the New York Times says, people today believe that when you're figuring out how to lead your life, the most important answers are found deep inside yourself.
High schools and gyms promote this idea. A gym near where I live advertises itself with the slogan "Be fit, be well, be you." One school's marketing campaign advised its students, "Be inspired, be challenged, be excellent, be you." The goal for every pupil is to leave school singing the song from The Greatest Showman: "Look out 'cause here I come." This is the anthem of our age—unapologetically marching to your own drumbeat and proudly announcing to the world who you really are.
The Crisis of Self-Identity
But I think it's becoming clearer and clearer that this just isn't working, which is no surprise. You simply cannot build a stable sense of self—a stable identity—if you don't have the right resources to do it. People are being told to just look inward, to create themselves out of themselves. But all this has led to is a massive explosion of mental health problems, unlike anything we've seen before, especially among young people. The reason is that we are simply not designed to bear the crushing psychological and emotional weight of trying to build our own identities.
Another problem is that our culture constantly sends us mixed messages. On one hand, we're told that we live in a godless universe with no meaning and no purpose. On the other hand, we're told that our lives have dignity, are worthy of respect, and that everyone is valuable. But on what basis do we make those claims?
The Illusion of Meaning
Yuval Harari, in his book Sapiens, says:
"As far as we can tell, human life has absolutely no meaning. Humans are the outcome of blind evolutionary processes that operate without goal or purpose. Our actions are not part of some divine cosmic plan, and if planet Earth were to blow up tomorrow morning, the universe would probably keep on going about its business as usual. As far as we can tell, at this point, human subjectivity would not be missed. Hence, any meaning that people ascribe to their lives is just a delusion."
So, we say this, and then we tell our children, "But hey, if you look inside yourself, like really, really deep inside yourself, you'll discover something that is just truly and uniquely you, and everyone needs to experience it." But who are you really? If we're just a cosmic accident floating on a tiny blue ball in the vast cold vacuum of space, if God does not exist and everything is meaningless, why do we still have this desperate longing for transcendence that we just cannot seem to escape?
Haunted by Eden
I find it hard to see what evolutionary purpose this might serve. The truth is that we are haunted by our memory of God and our life in Eden. We compensate by doing what Lewis said: we make idols out of stuff. We worship stuff—whatever it is: travel, money, sex, amazing experiences, career, family, success. But you cannot build an identity on those things—they will break your heart. I'll come back to that at the end.
It's clear to anyone who's paying attention that this is not making us happier, freer, or more at peace within ourselves. It's definitely not making for a more peaceful society. Just look at what is going on in the West right now. In a recent talk, David Brooks said that research is showing that in the last two decades, we have gotten a lot sadder as Western societies. We're seeing rising suicide rates, huge mental health problems, especially among teenagers, and an epidemic of loneliness. The number of people who say they have no close friends has gone up fourfold since the year 2000. People finding long-term romantic partners has gone down by a third. So we have fewer marriages, the birth rate is plummeting globally, and with the loss of families comes the loss of community, and therefore the loss of social cohesion.
The Global Spiritual Recession
It's no surprise that the number of people who rate themselves in the lowest category of happiness in the West has gone up by 50% since the year 2000. Our sad and lonely culture has become more fragmented, more angry, more pessimistic, and more negative. We can see how that's playing out in our politics. David Brooks calls this a "global spiritual recession," which is leading a lot of people to turn politics into a form of quasi-religious social therapy. And if you've been watching the news lately, you've seen a lot of that. But hey, it's okay, friends—just look inside yourself and believe. Just be yourself, and everything will be fine.
This Is Not the Way It's Meant to Be
As we reflect on all of this, the reading this morning from Genesis 1-3 clearly shows us that this is not the way it's meant to be. This is not the way the world was created to function. It was not always like this. This is not the world that we were made for. Heidegger is right—this is not the world that we were made for, and we are not the people that we are supposed to be. So, what have we lost? And is there a way back?
Today, as we think about these big questions, we are starting a new series called Being Human. Over the next eight weeks, we want to explore from a biblical and theological point of view what it means to be human. What are humans for? Why did God make us? What are the sources of our identity? The focus will be to really try and understand and go deeper into something that Genesis 1 calls the Imago Dei—that human beings have been made in the image of God, that we are image bearers of God made in the image and likeness of God.
Exploring the Imago Dei
We're going to look at this image-bearing through a number of different aspects:
How we bear God's image in our bodies
How we bear God's image in our minds
How we bear God's image in our emotions
How we bear God's image in our relationships, in our families, and communities
How we bear God's image in our sexuality
How we bear God's image in our work and our rest
We'll explore this especially through the lens of Genesis 1-3 and, of course, in the person of Jesus, who we believe is not only God incarnate—God in human flesh—but also the perfect human being. In fact, the only perfect human being who has ever lived. Therefore, he is the complete and perfect Imago Dei, the complete and perfect image bearer of God's likeness. As Paul puts it in Colossians 1: "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." An amazing passage of Scripture.
Jesus as the Perfect Image Bearer
If Jesus, then, is the perfect human and the savior of all things, the one who holds all things together, then we'll be looking at how Jesus' humanity shows us God's intention for our own humanity—how we're called to be human after the pattern and likeness of Jesus, and how Jesus' coming among us redeems and restores us as image bearers of God. So, that's what we're going to be exploring, and it really boils down to this question of what it means to be human, created in the image and likeness of God.
What I'm most interested in this morning is verse 27, where this idea is repeated three times. If you know anything about how Scripture works, when something's repeated three times, it means it's really, really important. God is a Trinity, and whenever something's repeated three times, it's saying, "This is something that you need to pay attention to." God is communicating something fundamental to us here. We're told three times that God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female, he created them.
The Gift of Being Created in God's Image
So, this might seem really obvious, so forgive me, but Genesis is telling us that we are not self-determining; we are creatures, created beings. That means the only reason we exist and continue to exist is because God holds all this together, because he wills it to happen moment by moment. We are completely and utterly dependent on God, whether we realize it or not, whether we want this to be true or not. We are completely and utterly dependent on God for our very existence. We are created beings; we did not create ourselves, and we are not self-determining. At the very core of everything is what it truly means to be human.
The Lie of Self-Determination
Therefore, that goes right to the heart of what our rebellion means. We believe the lie of the serpent that somehow God was holding out on us, that somehow God was keeping something back from us, but that if we took control, if we ate from the tree of self-determination, we'd get a better deal. It was a lie then, and it's a lie now, and it has brought us nothing but death.
In Genesis 1, all the plants and animals are described as being made according to their kinds—plants, birds, fish, land animals—all according to their kinds. It's repeated a number of times: "according to their kinds." But it's only when God comes to making Adam—by the way, the word "Adam" just means "the human," and it's related to the Hebrew word Adamah, which means "the dirt," so the human from the dirt—that Adam is not made according to his kind. Instead, he alone is made in the likeness of God. Only Adam is created according to God's kind.
What Does It Mean to Be Made in God's Image?
So, what is it about humans specifically, as opposed to all the other animals, that uniquely bears the image and likeness of God? Do you want to know something that's really frustrating? Genesis actually doesn't tell us. It's not at all clear in the story what this means, and the more that I've thought about it, I've come to see that this is actually a feature, not a bug. This is a feature of the story, not a bug. Bear with me—this is on purpose. It's not explained to us particularly clearly what it means to be made in the image of God, and this is on purpose.
Now, don't get me wrong, there are hundreds of thousands of books that have been written on this throughout the centuries, exploring the meaning of the Imago Dei. What does it mean to be made in the image of God? There are as many theories about this as there are books. Some argue that it has to do with our intelligence—our image-bearing is about how our minds work, our cognitive abilities. Others say it's about our creativity, like how we can make things, create art and beauty and music and sculpture and poetry. In fact, the first piece of art ever created, according to Genesis, is a love poem that Adam sings to his wife. Is it our emotions, like our complex inner lives, our consciousness? Is it our ability to love, form families, and build societies and communities? Is it our moral agency? Is it the fact that we're moral people, that we have a moral sense and therefore an agency, a responsibility given to us by God to live moral lives in the universe because our lives really matter? Is that what it's about?
The Gift of Image-Bearing
It's absolutely true that all of those things are part of what makes us human; they are God's gifts to us. But I do not think that it's any of those things that make us the Imago Dei, that demonstrate the image and likeness of God. In a sense, I agree with Charles Darwin when he wrote in The Descent of Man that "the difference between humans and animals, great as it is, is one of degree and not of kind," because he went on to say that we do see all of those capacities in various ways, to greater or lesser degrees, in the animals.
But I want to go further. I think it's absolutely essential that we do not put the meaning of our image-bearing on any of those capacities. In fact, I think that would be a disaster, and here's why. Whatever it means to be made in the image of God, the key thing is that it's given equally to all people as a gift of God. Can we all say that together? "A gift of God." Let's try that one more time: "A gift of God." It's not a human capacity; it's a gift of God. And that means it's not some capacity that we perform or an ability that we present to God in the hope of a reward or to achieve some kind of status.
The Danger of a Performance-Based Image
Here's why: if the image of God is something earned or performed, then, number one, that means it can also be lost or never achieved in the first place. Number two, it may be earned by some people and not by others. And number three, some people may possess it to a greater degree than others.
The consequences of that would be a disaster because if our image-bearing has to do with some human capacity or human quality—like rationality, intelligence, language, creativity, or beauty—even though those things are all gifts of God, as Christopher Watkin describes beautifully in his book Biblical Critical Theory:
"What if certain individuals do not possess the requisite capacities to get them across the line of humanity? What about the rationality of those with severe mental disabilities? What about the very young or the unborn? What about the very old? Any account of our Imago Dei that pins human distinctiveness on a particular capacity is hostage to the argument that some human beings simply do not possess the capacity in question, or do not possess enough of it, and therefore have no value and no right to the dignity or protection afforded by being human."
The Inherent Value of Every Human
Do you start to see why this is so important? We've seen this exact argument used time and time again throughout history to claim that certain kinds of people are not, in fact, human, or are subhuman, or fit only to be slaves, or are a drain on society and need to go away, or do not deserve to have the same rights as others, or even the right to exist. The fact that Genesis 1 does not explicitly name what it is about humans that makes us in the image of God—other than to make it totally clear that it is a gift of God given to every human being—means that our worth, value, significance, and dignity as human beings are not based on performance, ability, intelligence, personality, or any other quality other than that God has named us this way.
Equality in the Eyes of God
Therefore, there is no cause for boasting. No human can boast. No human can claim higher status over any other, for we are all equal in the eyes of God. There is no "better than" or "less than," regardless of our capacities or achievements or lack thereof. As Genesis makes clear, this is true for both men and women. Though we're different, we are of equal value and equal status before God. This means that all people are both equally humble before God and dependent on God, and we are also of such great value and worth, more than we could ever possibly imagine. So, we are both totally humble and dependent on God, and we are all of incredible status and dignity and value before God.
As Tim Keller says:
"Christianity, because of the doctrine of the image of God, can say to people, grounded in ultimate reality, that God does not make junk. You are made in the image of God. It doesn't matter who you are or what you have done; it doesn't matter how low you have gone; you are of infinite value to God."
The Basis of Human Identity
That is what it means to be human. Not only is this the basis for all human dignity, all human equality, and all human rights, but this is also the ultimate source of our identity, of our self. Even though we're fallen sinners, this status as God's image-bearers remains true nonetheless because it does not depend on our performance—it's the gift of God.
So, as we land this plane, let me ask you: what is human identity? I think identity is having confidence in your value as a person, having confidence in your worth. But where does this come from? As we've already explored, it is an illusion to say that my identity comes from within me, from my inner feelings, from inside myself. The reality is that we are all looking for validation and value from the world around us, from the people around us. You cannot be human without this. Why? Because Genesis makes clear that we're all relational beings. We're all made to exist in relationship with God and with others, and we can only properly exist as human beings in relationship with God and in right relationship with others. That is how we build our sense of self.
The Impact of Relationships on Identity
When our relationships are healthy, when we've grown up in a healthy family and received love and validation, we have confidence that we have worth and value to those we love and from those who love us. But when we've grown up in an unhealthy family or are in unhealthy relationships, it can destroy us. It can erode our sense of self, erode our sense of worth, and devalue us. It causes us great pain, right?
But even the best human relationships, the best career, the most money, the most incredible beauty, or the most amazing creativity—despite all the recognition that you might get from other people on the basis of those things—none of those things will be enough in the long run to build a stable identity because they'll all fail you in the end. People will let you down. Even the ones who love you the most will let you down—they will fail you. Someone better, or more beautiful, or more talented than you will inevitably come along, and if you've built your identity on any of those things, where will that leave you when that's gone? Who will you be when you're no longer the best, the most beautiful, or the most talented? If you run out of money, if you lose your job, if someone you love dies, where will you be? Who will you be?
When those things are gone, you'll feel terrible, you'll feel empty, you'll feel worthless. If you take any of those good things—which are God's gifts to us—and try to build your identity on them, as Lewis says, they will break your heart in the end. They will break you in the end.
Building a Stable Identity in Christ
So, what kind of identity do we need? I think this is what Genesis is telling us: you cannot build yourself, you cannot make yourself, you cannot bless yourself, and you cannot name yourself. Yes, you need recognition; yes, you need somebody from outside of yourself to come and name you, to name who you are. Tim Keller says:
"In order to be human, you need the love, you need the acceptance, you need the approval, and you need the esteem of someone who is greater than you. You need the esteem of someone you esteem if you're going to have any self-esteem."
This person, whoever it is, cannot be someone who will ever let you down, fail you, or change their mind about you based on your performance. You need someone who will love you, adore you, and accept you regardless of your performance, regardless of your abilities, regardless of your success or failure. The only person who can do that is Jesus. When you know the love of God in Jesus Christ—when you truly know it, when it's the most important thing about you—then that is the most powerful basis for a stable identity and a stable sense of self that exists in the universe. There is nowhere else that you can build a stable identity other than on the name of Jesus, on the person of Jesus.
The Adoption of Sons and Daughters
That's why Paul says in Romans 8:
"The Spirit you received does not make you slaves so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him, we cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."
What Paul is saying is that when you receive Christ, God is testifying right into the center of your being that you belong to God, that you are a child of God, that you don't need to be afraid, that God is your Father, that you are an heir of Christ, and that you have a future and a hope, and nothing can take that away from you. That's what happens when we believe. God rebuilds our identity in Christ Jesus, and if that is not a basis for a stable sense of self, then I don't know what is.
The Love of God in Christ Jesus
God really means this, friends. He doesn't just name us from a distance, or love us from a distance, or welcome us from a distance. No, he came close to us in Christ. For Christ took on flesh, became one of us, lived as one of us, showed us the love of the Father, died for us, laid down his life for us. This is how much God was prepared to show us that we are loved.
That means, friends, whether you're the least or the greatest, whether you're the most beautiful or the ugliest person on the planet, whether you're the most accomplished or the biggest failure, you are loved equally by your Father in Heaven. You are of infinite value to him, and nothing can take that away from you if you are in Christ, because Christ died for you so that you can receive all that he is.
An Invitation to Receive Your True Identity
So, friends, I'm going to invite the band to come on up. They're going to lead us in our final song this morning. If you believe in Jesus, or if this morning you want to believe in Jesus, all you have to do is say, "Thank you, Lord Jesus, for your grace. I want to follow you. I want to receive my true identity from you. Forgive me of my rebellion and remake me as a child of God." And he will, friends. He will make you a new creation. You will hear God speak your true name into the depths of your soul. He will make you a child of God, and he will make you an heir of Christ. He will say to you, "You are mine, and I am with you always, right to the very end, and forever and ever. Amen."
That means if you pray that prayer, if you want that this morning, it takes the pressure off us having to be more than we are. We no longer need to prove anything. We no longer need to live in fear. We no longer need to compare ourselves with other people. In other words, friends, the way home to Eden has been opened to us, and we can come in and rest.
As Paul says in Colossians 2:
"In Christ you have received the fullness of God."
And that is what it means to be human.