The issue of identity is possibly the most important issue leaders have to resolve if they are going to be rightly motivated to serve in their role.
This was recently brought home to me when I watched an unusual video clip of a teacher in his classroom. He held up a twenty dollar note and asked his students, “Who would like this note?” They all raised their hands. He then did his best to crumple up the note and again asked his class, “Who would like this now?” They all raised their hands. He then threw the twenty dollar note on the floor and trampled on it and again asked his class, “Who would like this note?” Not to be put off, they all raised their hands again.
The teacher then pointed out that the twenty dollar note maintained its value no matter how downtrodden or damaged it had become. And so it is with us.

It took me a long time to realise that my value as a person had nothing to do with what I would achieve in life. There had to be something that was unchanging that I could establish as a foundation for my identity and value as a person. And there did come a time when I was set free to realise that my identity was not based on what I did, or what I earned, or my IQ, or my accumulated assets, or my ability to play sport, or my titles and qualifications or what people think of me, or what my body looked like.
I remember a leader saying, “The loneliest moment in life is when you have just experienced that which you thought would deliver the ultimate, and it has let you down and left you wanting more.”

There came a time when I realised I was a human being, not a human doing. It didn’t matter how downtrodden or damaged I might become, my identity as a person was now based on something that was independent of what people might think about me. It was then that no one could make me feel inferior without my consent. It was not what I did in life that made me a person of significance, rather it needed to be who I was that mattered. It had to be something that was immovable and unchanging. And it happened this way. There was a time that I realised that God saw me at my worst and loved me unconditionally and sent His son Jesus Christ to die for me. And when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour, I became a child of God and there was nothing more important in this world than that.
In this I was secure because there was nothing that could separate me from His love and nothing that could change my value as a person who was created in the image of God. It was this rock-solid foundation that changed my life and gave me a newfound unshakeable security for living. I no longer have to prove myself, but I am motivated to live a life of excellence so that I might honour the One who gave me the gift of life.

The psychologist, Lawrence Crabb said, “There is no way a person can belong and have a high sense of identity until they know and belong to the creator of the universe and His son, Jesus Christ. For you cannot know who you are until you know whose you are.”

I now live with the certainty that when problems develop, my deep needs for security and significance are never threatened. For I know that the most important person in the world created me to be a person of value and loves me unconditionally, both now and forever more, and will never leave me or forsake me.
In this I am content.