What Defines You

One night I was having a bible study with a few friends. One of the topics of discussion was the upcoming school year and the various things that we do that will keep us involved in the school athletics. Chris Orr, sports editor for the newspaper, was part of the group and we were talking about the games that we will cover for the newspaper. Bill Christner was also among us and he was asked if he was going to work in the press booth again. He answered that he was not going to this year. It was not the answer that the asker expected to hear. He was shocked to hear that Bill was not going to be in the booth. The asker followed up with they typical question, “Why?”
Bill’s response opened up a view to what is important to him, “It's not something that I need to do. That is not what defines me.”
His answer gives an unfortunate commentary on what society values as opposed to what a true believer values.
Society states that we are defined by our occupations. Whatever our job is, determines the value that we have to society. Doctors, lawyers, schoolteachers, police officers, firefighters, and other public service jobs are considered to be great jobs. They hold these jobs in higher esteem as opposed to a ditch digger, construction worker, circulation manager of a newspaper, or any other lesser jobs. Yet, without ditch diggers, towns would flood. Without construction workers, buildings and roads would not be built. Our occupations should not define us.
Society also states that if you make a certain amount of money that you should be held in high regard. Politicians do everything they can to get a celebrity to endorse them. The media promotes celebrity activism. Sean Penn, Michal J Fox, Cheryl Crow, and Oprah Winfrey all were brought to the forefront during the recent election. One study showed that two days prior to the election, and subsequently up to the election, the media showed more commercials featuring the celebrities than the candidate they supported. The downside to this is that it makes ourselves, those not in the limelight, less important, even to our own thoughts.
Are these the things that define us? Alternatively, is there something else? When we get past the money and the professions, what defines us? Some will answer it is our family/marriage that defines us. This response gives society a moral ground on which to stand. When truly backed into a corner, this is the humanist answer: our marital status and our family define us. The problem is that it states that people who are married are more important than people that are not married. Those who have children are more important that those who do not have children. This thought discounts those that remain single for religious purposes similar to priests and nuns. The thought also makes those that are unable to conceive because of medical reasons feel inferior.
The way we should be defined is not by our occupation, our income, and even our marital status. What defines us is our relationship to our Father in heaven. “And don't be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God's place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there. God, not your marital status, defines your life.” (1 Corinthians 7:17 The Message). God will define us. The question that you must ask yourself, “What defines me?”