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Identity

             What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?  (Mark 8:36 NIV)

 

            And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7 KJV)

 

            Soul: … that dimension of the person that interrelates all the other dimensions so they form one life.[1]

 

            Sometimes when we talk about souls, we think about what might be considered a ghost. It’s a supernatural, spiritual something within us that leaves our body when we die. We read the verse in Mark as if it is saying that we can gain the whole world but end up in hell. This concern is a valid one, but I don’t think it’s the only understanding, or even the best understanding.

            In the second passage above, when God breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life, Adam became a living soul. The New American Standard and New International versions say Adam became a living being.  According to Dallas Willard, it might be said that our souls are what make us who are. If that’s the case, then to lose our souls means something in our lives, not just in the hereafter.

            We’ve seen this warning played out in the lives of others and sometimes in our own. Who hasn’t at least heard about someone who seemed to have it all and lost it – and possibly their life? It’s also played out as we see people trying to reduce their souls to one – often trivial – thing. How do you identify? Are you White? Black? Asian? Male? Female? Non-binary? Liberal? Conservative? Christian? Pagan? Neurodivergent? Sane? Insane?

            A few years back, people were indignant that someone might describe them as a person who was Black, gay, or neurodivergent, etc. No, that was rude. You absolutely had to describe them as a Black person, a gay person, or a neurodivergent person. That adjective – that modifier - was the most important thing anyone could know about them – more important than the fact that they were people. That adjective was their identity more than the noun following it. And I can’t say I’m any better since I long to be considered a competent or intelligent person…

            The thing about these identities is that some of them reduce, constrict, or limit us. Think about what “I’m a wife” or “I’m a kid.” They are excuses. Don’t expect anything from me. Think again about what “I’m a Christian” or “I’m a writer” suggest. In each case, it depends on our understanding of the term involved, but compared to the first two, a challenge is involved. Those things are bigger than we are.

            We have the right to choose our identities – within limits. It would do me no good to identify as rich, beautiful, slim, fit, graceful, teenage, or Vulcan. But if we are going to claim an identity, shouldn’t we pick one (or more) that challenge us instead of one that acts as an excuse? Shouldn’t we pick our identities that don’t result in our losing our souls by shrinking them down to a modifier? What good would it do us - or anyone - if we gained the whole world, but lost ourselves in the process?

 


[1] Willard, Dallas, Renovation of the Heart, (Colorado Springs, CO, NavPress, 2002), p. 37

 

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