There is a story floating around about then-President Bush a few years ago. He was supposedly visiting a nursing home, where he took the hand of an elderly man walking the halls and asked kindly, “Sir, do you know who I am?\u05f4 The man replied, \u05f4No, but if you ask the nurses, they can tell you. \u05f4<\/p>\n
There is a spiritual lesson to be learned from this amusing little story. It is this: If you allow others to determine your identity, you might be shocked and disappointed at the identity they give to you. How often is this true of us down at work, or at school, or at the fence in the backyard? Rather than making our Christian identity plain to all, we go along with the dirty joke, the racial slur, or the slanderous gossip. You see, we have allowed someone else to determine our identity… and the one they give us is not very Christ-like!<\/p>\n
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds<\/em>…” (Romans 12:2). Or, as one man translated it, “Do not let the world cast you into its mold.” Make your identity clear to all.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Mark Mason via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 2, June 1994 There is a story floating around about then-President Bush a few years ago. He was supposedly visiting a nursing home, where he took the hand of an elderly man walking the halls and asked kindly, “Sir, do you know who I am?\u05f4 The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1889],"class_list":["post-93361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-identity"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29713,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-two-become-one-do-they-lose-their-identity\/","url_meta":{"origin":93361,"position":0},"title":"If “two become one,” do they lose their identity?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In Mathew 19:5, how do they become one? If they are one and yet they are two, do they lose their identity? Answer: In Matthew 19:5, Jesus is quoting: \"Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":97531,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/your-identity\/","url_meta":{"origin":93361,"position":1},"title":"Your Identity","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 25, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores \"You are a holy people to Yahweh your God\" (Deuteronomy 14:2). Deuteronomy 14 begins with identity. Everything that follows, including dietary laws and tithing practices, flows from that identity. Israel wasn't supposed to mimic the nations around them; their distinctiveness was intentional. The point isn't about food;\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25774,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/counterfeit-sexuality-sexuality-as-identity\/","url_meta":{"origin":93361,"position":2},"title":"Counterfeit Sexuality: Sexuality as Identity","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by\u00a0Ethan R. Longhenry Sexuality remains one of the most sensitive and yet \"hot-button\" issues within our culture and among Christians today. Such a controversial issue features a lot of passion and debate regarding the surface level issues of proper and improper forms of sexuality, and in such an environment, digging\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Woman-with-blank-face-300x209.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":97857,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/paul-and-headship\/","url_meta":{"origin":93361,"position":3},"title":"Paul and Headship","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 9, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong As you read I Corinthians 11, stop and meditate on this distinction. Many people in our country today dislike the concept of headship and may even use I Corinthians 11:11-12 to deny the rest of this section, but the truth can be built on the fact that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88338,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-performance-culture\/","url_meta":{"origin":93361,"position":4},"title":"What Is Performance Culture?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Herb Berkley Performance culture is a mindset that measures worth, identity, and success by outward achievement, visible productivity, and continual competition. It's a relentless cycle demanding constant validation, feeding on comparison, anxiety, and a need to prove oneself repeatedly. Within this culture, acceptance is transactional-earned by output rather than\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19431,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doesnt-the-scriptures-say-that-edom-took-over-israels-identity\/","url_meta":{"origin":93361,"position":5},"title":"Doesn’t the Scriptures say that Edom took over Israel’s identity?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 11, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I\u00a0agree with you on\u00a0Ezekiel 35, but according to Scripture Edom still exists.\u00a0 The Scriptures clearly show that Edom assumed true Israel's identity when Israel was forced out of Samaria and Judah.\u00a0 The so-called Jew today is Edom according to Scripture.\u00a0 Please read Jeremiah 25.\u00a0 Moreover, read Ezekiel 35:9-15 again.\u00a0\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93361\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}