Who am I? What’s the point or meaning of life? Whom should I be with and love? In light of these things, what should I do with my life?
These are questions you’ve probably asked yourself while you’ve laid awake at night. They’re the kinds of questions that can take the breath right out of your lungs. If you think about them too much, you might fall into a downward spiral of depression. But if you think about them properly, and know where to find the answers, they can lead to a life of joy and freedom. God wants you to discover the answers to these questions. They’re found in a relationship with Him.
If you can relate, or if you think your youth group can relate, then try out this activity and discussion with your youth group at your next meeting.
ACTIVITY
- Everyone gets a piece of paper.
- Write your name on the top.
- Then write 3 basic things about yourself – age, family, home, school, activities, hair, eyes
- Then write two more things about yourself that most people don’t know
- No secrets… just things that make you you
Leader: Gather the cards then divide the room into two teams. The goal is to guess the name from as few of the “clues” as possible.
- Select a card and choose the hardest clue
- Give this clue to one team and get ONE answer from them
- If they’re correct, they get 5 points (if it’s the first clue; 4 for the second, etc)
- If the first team guesses wrong, give the second hardest clue to the second team.
- When a correct answer is given, choose another card and start again
- End the game when time is up… no need to go through all of them.
Read (leader):
- Sometimes we think about ourselves by our appearance. You’re this height, this weight, this hair style, this eye color, etc.
- Sometimes we think about ourselves by our activities. You play this sport, you’re in this club, you play this instrument, etc.
- Sometimes we think about ourselves by our relationships. You have so many brothers and sisters. Your mom and dad are separated. You have a boyfriend or girlfriend.
- And sometimes we think about ourselves by our inward things. What you think about, what you feel, what’s important to you, etc.
From the five things you wrote down about yourself…
… how many had to do with appearance?
… how many had to do with activities?
… how many had to do with relationships?
… how many had to do with inward things?
Today we’re going to explore the different ways we define ourselves, and maybe find some new ways to understand who we really are.
The world we live in tries to tell us who we are, what we should do, and who we should be with. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and other social media platforms make it easy to show an image of who we want to be. But they also make it hard to know who we really are. We compare ourselves to other people. We try to imitate the most viral TikTok video. We post selfies and live and die from the comments. We create fake profiles so we can leave comments and share things without anyone knowing it’s us. We think these things will satisfy us… but they always leave us wanting more.
Is that really how God wants us to live?
Let’s explore some Bible verses to discover what our true identity is.
BIBLE JOURNEY
Leader: Break into 4 small groups of 4-7, assigning each group a section of Scripture. Give them 6-8 minutes to discuss the passage, then have each group report and read each passage out loud.
1 Samuel 16:1, 6-13 (focus on verse 7)
Samuel was sent to anoint a new king for Israel from among the sons of Jesse. He assumed it would be the oldest, biggest, strongest boy – but God challenged him to consider the heart rather than outward appearance. Samuel ended up anointing the least likely person – the youngest and smallest son, David.
This is apparently a hard lesson to learn. King Saul was anointed mostly because he was taller and better looking than everyone else (1 Sam. 9:2), but that didn’t work out too well.
Proverbs 31:30-31; 1 Peter 3:3-4 (does this apply to both guys and girls?)
The last section of Proverbs describes “the good wife.” The characteristics described prove that character, faith, and hard work mean a lot more than beauty. A similar theme occurs in 1 Peter 3. It’s not about clothing, hair, or body shape. It’s about the inner spirit, “unfading” beauty.
Both passages are about women, but guys can apply them in two ways:
- Proverbs challenges males to treasure inward qualities in the females they love, not just outward appearance.
- The same standards apply to guys, too. It’s not about how big or muscular you are, or what kind of clothes you wear. Make sure your “inner self” is attractive.
Genesis 1:27; Psalm 139:14; Ephesians 2:10
We are made in God’s image and are fearfully and wonderfully made. God’s work is “awesome!” Psalm 139 includes details about how involved God is in the details of our lives. We’re not accidents. We’re his treasured work of art.
The word in Ephesians 2:10 for “workmanship” or “handiwork” is an art word. We’re works of art made by the best Artist!
Romans 12:1-2
Our bodies – good-looking or not, athletic or not, popular or not – are sacrifices, offered to God in worship. What does He want from us in return?
Verse 2 is amazing! One Bible translation says, “Do not let the world squeeze you into its mold” (that’s what “conforming” is). The world says beauty matters more than anything. The world worships image. But our minds need to be renewed and transformed. We need to understand things in a radical new way.
LAST WORD
Read (leader):
What did Jesus look like? We don’t really know. The gospels say he had a beard, but that’s about it. We do get an interesting clue from Isaiah 53:2-3:
2 My servant grew up in the LORD’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. 3 He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.
This was written hundreds of years before Jesus walked on the earth. But what if this is an image of how Jesus looked? It sounds like he would have been kind of ugly. People hid their faces so they wouldn’t have to look at him. But still, he drew people to him, because of who he was on the inside. He had a spiritual power in him that people wanted.
Romans 8:29 says that God wants to “conform us to the image of his Son.” Think about that. It means it doesn’t matter if you’re kind of ugly, or if you can’t play basketball, or if you can’t sing, or if you have a silly laugh, or sweaty hands, or anything else… if you have been born again, you have a spiritual power in you that will affect the people around you – just like Jesus did.
You are a masterpiece! God has made you on purpose. You’re not an accident. Even though God will take you through hard times in your life, He will use it to make you look more like Him. Think about a sculpture and how the artist chisels or cuts away the stone. God will chisel at what is closest to your heart – the things you trust in for your identity. He does this so that all that is left is to trust in Him and the identity he has given you: the image of Jesus Christ.
