The Identity Project

We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with information. What’s in, what’s out, and what’s expected of us, to fit in, constantly changes and demands our undivided attention. In other words, the world is relentlessly telling us who we should be, and what that looks like, every day of our lives.

“It’s estimated that an American adult makes over thirty five thousand decisions a day”(Sollisch, Jim. "The cure for decision fatigue." Wall Street Journal 10 (2016)). Many of these decisions are a result of what we have been given in the form of an advertisement, regardless of our awareness of that fact. Ironically, we are more susceptible to advertising when we don’t realize that it is happening to us (Tobey, “Advertising Works. Don’t Believe Me? Then You Are My Favorite Demographic.” https://medium.com/@dahanese/advertising-works-don-t-believe-me-then-you-are-my-favorite-demographic-ebf6b1f2541a). For example, if I bump into you and knock the coffee out of your hands without saying excuse me or turning around to acknowledge what happened, a message has been sent. Specifically, I have communicated, without words, that you are not important. Think about how scary this is as we are on the receiving end of countless ‘advertisements.’ Every. Single. Day.

I have had the opportunity to interview people with roots in different parts of the world. What each interview revealed was that each culture has a way of advertising its own brand of identity in various ways. It is almost as if there is safety in just belonging to a group without necessarily questioning its values. During one interview, an individual noted that they felt a sense of warmth and belonging being a part of their cultural group because of all the communal gatherings though he could not speak the language. We are wired to belong even if that means not living as who we are meant to be.

As believers, we live in the world and often struggle with insecurities as a part of having a fallen human nature. Being bombarded with identity-loaded information that does not reflect who we are in Christ amplifies that struggle. Rarely do we peel back every layer of the onion to understand why we don’t have the confidence in Christ that He desires for us. Famous explanations heard from the pulpit include but are not limited to “we have a sin nature,” “we need to pray more,” and “as the people of God, we need to be content.” These are all true but do not address practical ways to combat and understand what is taking place. It is equivalent to a doctor telling a patient they need to get medicine because they are sick without addressing the specific sickness or what type of medication they should take.

I spent a good portion of my adult life in abusive environments and relationships because deep down in my soul, I wanted to belong. There was something about being in a community that caused me to believe that sacrificing my identity and self-worth was worth being surrounded by people who said they loved me. However, God taught me a valuable lesson; evil surrounds people too and speaks the same words. Evil takes an essential human need and uses it to ensnare people in a cycle of forgetfulness that is hard to break free from. It was not until I started to discover who I was in Christ, and what that truly meant, that I began to understand that I already belonged. When I understood that I already had my belonging in Christ, I wasn’t afraid of letting go and allowing Him to lead me to the environment and people He intended for me.

This nine-week study equips believers to identify the lies of the enemy we get from our society, the people in our lives (past, present, and future), and ourselves. It then equips us to understand who we are in Christ so we can name every lie, counter it with the truth of God’s Word and find our true sense of belonging in Him above all.

For this study, we will be using the first Matrix film. The reason we use the Matrix film is that the visuals in cinematic storytelling are extremely powerful. This film’s story closely identifies with the battles we face as believers in a false world. In The Matrix, Neo and his team must fight against their enemies in the context of a false world, called the Matrix, while their bodies are in the real world. However, what happens to them in the Matrix affects their bodies in the real world. As believers, we know that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood (Eph. 6), but what we do in this flesh still has spiritual consequences and vice versa. Going through the film and highlighting various clips will help us to see how our lives are not as different as we may think.