Do you know where you came from? The answer to that question is your origin. As we consider the first of The Five Big Questions of Life, there is no doubt that origin is the key factor in understanding our identity.

Every river rises from a source. The Susquehanna River rises from Otsego Lake in Cooperstown, New York. If you trace the 444 miles of our local river from the Chesapeake Bay to the source of its headwaters, you will always come to Otsego Lake. It is its origin.

You and I also have a source from which we rise. If we trace our lives back to their origin, we will always come to the same place. Keep that thought in mind, and we’ll come back to it shortly.

Moses was born a Hebrew but raised an Egyptian. In the clash of those cultures, he struggled to understand who he was. As we discussed last week, his identity crisis got him into a lot of trouble. That’s what an identity crisis does. Don’t forget, previous articles in this series are always available at http://www.webbweekly.com.

For clarification, ‘origin’ is not ‘ancestry’. Ancestry is the history of the people who came before you, but it has nothing to do with your origin. This is important because if you confuse ancestry with origin, you are setting yourself up for an identity crisis.

Ancestry is our immutable history. Immutable describes something that is unchangeable. Because it describes the past, ancestry is something we simply inherit. We had no part in establishing it, and we can’t do a thing to change it. It is what it is. When considering our identity, that can be a good thing – or a bad thing – or both.

The descendants of George Washington openly celebrate their ancestry, while the descendants of slave owners naturally avoid the topic. Ancestry, however, can be messy. George Washington, the man who led a war for freedom from tyranny, was also a slave owner. It is a painful paradox. Caution: the distant past is not the best place to look for your identity.

Our parents and grandparents can strongly influence our identity — our recent past. Will we strive to be like them, or will we seek to break free of their dysfunction and bondage and start our own story? Good, bad, or indifferent, we too often allow our parents and grandparents to shape our identity. The result is a crisis.

Here’s the good news about ancestry: the distant and recent past can influence your identity, but only if you choose to let it. It’s true. No one can define you or chain you to the past. Did you hear that? Your alcoholic grandparents cannot define your identity, and neither can your abusive parents. The reason no one can define your identity, including you, is that your identity is not found in you or in the people and experiences that have influenced you. Your identity transcends your ancestry and all the noise of this world – and there is a lot of noise.

At this point, I must confess that “Who am I?” is a bogus question. I included it in The Five Questions because it is a question we ask, but it’s not the question we should ask. The right question is this: “Whose am I?” That’s a completely different question, and your answer to that question will determine your identity.

My father was raised in difficult circumstances. His parents had seven children, though they were never married. His father was a self-employed accountant by day, and a bar piano man by night. He often came home late, drunk, and angry. It was a hard life.

My mother’s father and mother were also never married. My mom’s mom had seven children, but to three different men. My mom was the youngest, and when she was seven years old, her mother was murdered. When she was eleven, her father died. My mom spent the rest of her early years being raised by her much older siblings. It was a hard life.

My mother and father could have been defined by their past, by tragedies, and by the unfair nature of this world. They could have identified as victims and blamed the world for their problems. They could have wallowed in that victimhood and passed generational dysfunction on to their four sons. They could have, but they didn’t.

By God’s grace, mom and dad discovered their true identity: they were children of their Father in heaven. He was their origin. See Matthew 6:9. They knew that the source of their lives was the River of Life that flows from the throne of God. See Revelation 22:1. They knew they were not their own, that they had been bought at a price and belonged to God. See I Corinthians 6:19-20. That identity transformed their lives and empowered them to overcome the difficulties of their ancestry and the noise of this world. They served God, their family, and their community with passion and purpose – and they did so their entire lives.

At eighty-eight years of age, my dad was hit by a massive stroke. His left side was completely paralyzed. Talking was very difficult, but everyone who came into his hospital room heard “Brother Bill” speak of how his heavenly Father had transformed his life. Even a paralyzing stroke could not turn him into a victim. He knew his origin and the source from which his life flowed. He was a child of his heavenly Father. It was his identity.

Dad died three weeks later. His death was devastating to Mom, but she never stopped talking about her heavenly Father. A year later, she had to move out of their home and into assisted living, but Dorothy never stopped sharing with others about God’s great love for her. Even the worst experiences of her life could not turn her into a victim. She was a child of God, and she knew it. It was her identity.
Do you know whose you are?

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! ~I John 3:1