Finding A New Identity

By Chaplain Zach Anderson | The Fight Life Ministries

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My wife, Katy, and I serve with US Missions as chaplains to the world of combat sports. We travel across Montana to different fight events, bringing Jesus to competitors just like you. We absolutely love what we do!

I’ve been in martial arts my whole life. When I started competing in the cage as a teenager, I felt like I had two clear paths before me: I could either use this sport and my influence for my own glory, or I could use it for God and His glory. So I prayed, “God, if you can use me in this sport of punching people in the face, I give it to you.”

That prayer started me on a journey of getting ordained, becoming endorsed as a chaplain, and being able to raise support as a missionary with The Fight Life Ministries. God has blessed us richly!

But even while following God and serving Him, there was a season when I felt completely empty. This was a couple years after high school when everything was “supposed to be coming together”. I just felt like the harder I tried to serve God the more lost I actually felt. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something.

I thought maybe I just wasn’t trying hard enough. It was a very frustrating season! In the middle of God’s blessing, I was lost, searching for who I really was. I was lacking identity, and I kept asking myself: Who am I?

We All Ask the Same Question

In all our different stories and journeys, we eventually reach a point where we wonder about our identity and ask: Who am I? Identity is so much more than what we do, it’s who we are. It’s what we build our lives on. It shapes our self-worth and defines everything about us.

We can try to build our identity on so many things:

• Being a successful athlete: our record, our progress, our wins

• Social media likes, follows, and comments

• What other people think of us

• Being popular or in the right relationship

• Even our past hurts and trauma

We strive to fill that missing puzzle piece.

But here’s the problem: injuries happen. Trends change. Breakups happen. Everything we build our identity on can shift overnight. When our identity rests on something temporary we risk losing everything. We end up with no real identity, and a lack of identity creates a lack of hope. Anxiety, comparison, and a true identity crisis become our reality.

How Do We Find Our True Identity?

The Bible has a lot to say about identity. Let’s take a look at one of my favorite stories in the book of Mark. Mark is a book full of action and power. And in chapter 5, Jesus is early in His ministry, busy healing, teaching, and showing Himself as God.

At the end of chapter 4, Jesus and His disciples cross the Sea of Galilee. That is where our story begins.

Mark 5:2-6 (NLT)

2 When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by an evil spirit came out from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the burial caves and could no longer be restrained, even with a chain. 4 Whenever he was put into chains and shackles—as he often was—he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Day and night he wandered among the burial caves and in the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones. 6 When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him.

In verses 7-13, Jesus asked for the man’s name—He asked him about his identity. And the man said “My name is Legion, for there are many of us in this man.”

A Legion represented a number of soldiers, thousands of soldiers. Jesus then heals the man by casting the evil spirits out into a heard of pigs. We read that the pigs ran off the cliff and drowned. The Bible is wild!

Mark 5:14-15 (NLT)

14 The herdsmen fled to the nearby town and the surrounding countryside, spreading the news as they ran. People rushed out to see what had happened. 15 A crowd soon gathered around Jesus, and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there fully clothed and perfectly sane, and they were all afraid.

Jesus Meets Us Where We Are

Where do we find Legion? He was living in a graveyard! He was chained up, raging, dangerous, howling, and cutting himself with stones. Everyone had given up on him. He was at the lowest point of his life: hopeless and alone. This was his reality.

He was deep in an identity crisis.

I can relate. When I was struggling with my own identity, I turned to relationships to try and fill that missing piece. I thought if I just found the right girlfriend I’d feel whole. Instead, I slowly threw away my friends, my family, my fighting career, and even the call of God on my life.

I felt like I was living in a graveyard. I was angry, dangerous, and without hope.

But just like Legion, Jesus was there on the shore of my darkness the entire time.

Jesus isn’t scared of our graveyard. He’s not afraid of how dark or low we feel. He cares about who we are no matter where we are.

Jesus Heals Us Where We Are

Legion wasn’t just physically in a place of death, his spirit was too. He was as far from God as anyone could be.

Jesus brought life where there was death. He brought sanity, freedom, and a fresh start. He showed His power and authority by casting the evil spirits out and into a nearby heard of 2000 pigs.

I always wondered why Jesus did it this way. I think Jesus wanted to give a visual of what was going on inside Legion. Jesus made the invisible visible by showing how dark Legion’s reality had become.

What had defined Legion for some time no longer had power over him. Jesus made him free and gave him a new life right there in the graveyard. We read in verse six of our text that the man didn’t have to clean himself up first.

Legion saw Jesus and ran to meet Him. Why is this important?

This man had every excuse to stay away from Jesus. He could have thought that He wasn’t good enough. He could looked at the cuts on his arms and the dirtiness of his life. He could have looked at his shame and guilt and let those things hold him back from Jesus.

But he saw Jesus and knew that He could heal him. He ran and bowed before Him.

When I was at my lowest, I finally realized Jesus was the missing piece. I had been trying to impress Him instead of simply coming to Him.

Jesus is enough. He has the power to take us from darkness into light, right where we are.

Jesus Gives Us Purpose Where We Are

After the miracle, the man begged to go with Jesus. But Jesus said no. Why would He that?

Mark 5:18-20 (NLT)

18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. 19 But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.” 20 So the man started off to visit the Ten Towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed at what he told them.

Legion wanted to go with Jesus, but Jesus said: No. Jesus had a bigger purpose for him. Sometimes God tells us “no” because He has something better in mind.

He told Legion, instead, to go into the 10 cities of that region and share all that had happened. Legion became one of the first missionaries! He went into these ten cities, called Decapolis, a region Jesus couldn’t really just walk into.

Legion was reaching a place only he could reach. He was given purpose. He was given hope, and he shared that hope with his world.

What a story of hope!

Jesus meets us, heals us, and gives us purpose where we are.

Your True Identity Is Found in Jesus

Fighter, Jesus sees you where you are and loves you where you are. He wants to heal you and give you purpose. There’s no place that’s too far from Him—there’s no graveyard too dark.

He hasn’t forgotten about you! He sees it all and He’s still standing there on the shore of your heart, with His arms open wide ready to give you a new start.

You may be here feeling like Legion: at your lowest and in the middle of an identity crisis. Maybe you’re hopeless, alone, feeling like everyone has given up on you.

Let me make something very clear: your feelings are real and your feelings matter, but your feelings aren’t always right.

Wherever you are, Jesus is with you and He’s made a way for you. He’s the missing puzzle piece of your heart. You can spend a lifetime trying to fill that missing piece with anything and everything else. But, only He can complete us and make us whole, giving us life to the fullest.

Jesus wants to heal you and give you a new identity that’s built on Him because He will never change. He will never fail. He asks you to trust Him. He has a purpose for you just like Legion: share the hope He gives with those around you. Only you can reach your world. No one else can do that for you.

Imagine a Whole New World

What if we competed not for our own self-image and self-wroth, but instead as a way of worship? What if our motive was to share that Jesus is King and Jesus is our source of identity?

The fight game can change fast, as I’m sure you know. But, Jesus stays the same.

Imagine fighters walking secure in Jesus and the life He gives, sharing hope with those around them. Think of it this way: who in your life is waiting for you to tell them about Jesus? Who around you is in a spiritual graveyard, waiting for a light of hope to take them from death to life?

What would your world look like if you let Jesus heal you, give you a new identity and give your life true purpose?

A New Beginning Is Available Right Now

Jesus is ready to meet you right where you are, forgive your sins, take you out of your spiritual graveyard, and give you a new identity and purpose.

If that’s you today, if you want a new identity in Jesus, simply pray this prayer:

Jesus, You are the missing piece. I’ve tried to fill it with everything else, but You are the answer. I surrender to You right now. Be my source of identity. Be my Savior. I’m ready for a new beginning. Amen.

Fighter, if you prayed that prayer and gave your life to Jesus, know that it’s the best decision you can ever make. We want to walk with you in your journey and in your fight.

Click on “Get Started” on our home page and we will connect with you, help you find a good church, and send you resources. We’re in your corner.

Thank you for joining our team for this blog. Be sure to check out our other resources and content on our website. We’ll catch you next time!

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Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.