Latest / UNMASKED with Wesley Farnsworth / EP 79 - Calling Identity: Who Did God Create You to Be? | Who Am I Really?

Transcript

EP 79 - Calling Identity: Who Did God Create You to Be? | Who Am I Really? · UNMASKED with Wesley Farnsworth

• 0:02
  Who are you when every label falls away?
• 0:06
  Not your job, not your title, not your past, not even your
• 0:11
  pain or your achievements, and not your recovery.
• 0:16
  Who are you then? Because over the last few
• 0:20
  episodes we've been stripping away layers.
• 0:23
  Trauma identity, performance identity, recovery identity.
• 0:29
  Maybe some of the people listening have started to feel a
• 0:32
  little uncomfortable, because if you remove all of those things,
• 0:38
  what's left? That question can feel a little
• 0:42
  terrifying because many people spend years building identity
• 0:47
  around survival, achievement, or healing.
• 0:51
  And when those layers begin coming off, there's a strange
• 0:55
  feeling of emptiness. Not necessarily because
• 1:00
  something is wrong, but because space has opened up.
• 1:05
  Space for something new, for truth, maybe for a calling.
• 1:13
  Today we're talking about calling identity.
• 1:17
  Not what you do and not what happened to you, but who God
• 1:22
  created you to be. Welcome to Unmasked, where we
• 1:27
  take off the filters and get real about faith, failure, and
• 1:30
  finding freedom. I'm your host, Wesley
• 1:33
  Farnsworth, and this is episode 4 in our miniseries Who Am I
• 1:37
  Really? In episode 1, we talked about
• 1:41
  trauma identity, when pain becomes your name.
• 1:45
  In episode 2, we talked about performance identity, when
• 1:49
  achievement becomes your worth. And in episode 3, we talked
• 1:53
  about recovery, identity, when healing becomes your whole
• 1:57
  story. And today we go a little bit
• 2:01
  deeper into calling identity because identity is not
• 2:06
  ultimately found in what happened to you or what you
• 2:09
  achieved or even what you survived.
• 2:12
  Eventually the question becomes, who did God create me to be?
• 2:19
  So pulp a chair and take a deep breath and let's jump in.
• 2:24
  This is unmasked. See, when people hear the word
• 2:29
  calling, they often think of big things.
• 2:34
  I think of pastors, missionaries, speakers, authors,
• 2:40
  ministry leaders, platforms, purpose statements.
• 2:46
  But calling this bigger than an occupation.
• 2:50
  Calling is an identity lived out.
• 2:54
  Calling this who you are becoming.
• 2:57
  Because before God ever gives an assignment, he establishes your
• 3:03
  identity. And that matters because many
• 3:08
  people chase purpose while skipping identity.
• 3:13
  They ask what am I supposed to do before asking who am I
• 3:18
  becoming? But calling grows out of
• 3:23
  identity, not the other way around.
• 3:27
  You see, Moses knew his assignment before he knew
• 3:30
  himself. I think Moses is probably one of
• 3:34
  the clearest examples in the Bible.
• 3:37
  God calls him and he gives him a purpose and he invites him into
• 3:41
  leadership. And then Moses immediately
• 3:45
  responds with an identity question and he says, who am I?
• 3:51
  I can't speak. They won't listen.
• 3:55
  I'm not enough. You notice what happened.
• 4:01
  His calling exposed his identity because assignment reveals what
• 4:07
  we believe about ourselves. Moses saw inadequacy inside of
• 4:13
  him, but God saw leadership. Where Moses saw limitation, God
• 4:22
  saw purpose. Moses was focusing on himself.
• 4:28
  God focused on presence. I will be with you, God said.
• 4:36
  And that line changes everything because calling was never meant
• 4:42
  to be carried alone. And I think that's something
• 4:47
  that many people miss. God often works on identity
• 4:52
  before the assignment. David was anointed long before
• 4:57
  he became king. Joseph dreamed.
• 5:01
  Long before leadership arrived, Gideon was called a mighty
• 5:06
  warrior while hiding, the identity came first and the
• 5:12
  assignment followed. But people reverse it.
• 5:17
  They think when I finally do enough then I'll become.
• 5:22
  When I succeed enough then I'll matter.
• 5:26
  When I find purpose then I'll know who I am.
• 5:31
  But God says know who you are first and then live from it.
• 5:40
  But there is a difference between a calling and a role,
• 5:44
  and I think this is important to mention.
• 5:47
  Your role is not your identity, because roles change, callings
• 5:52
  deepen. So you can change jobs.
• 5:57
  You can move, you can retire, you can step away from ministry,
• 6:03
  you can become empty nesters, you can lose a title, you can
• 6:08
  leave a season. But your identity will always
• 6:11
  remain because calling isn't ultimately what you do, it's who
• 6:17
  you become while doing it. You can lose the role but still
• 6:23
  keep the calling because calling lives deeper.
• 6:30
  Look at Gideon. God saw beyond survival.
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  Back in episode 1, we talked about Gideon.
• 6:39
  He saw weakness and God saw a warrior.
• 6:43
  He saw fear and God saw leadership.
• 6:48
  He saw limitation. God saw calling.
• 6:50
  And maybe that's the invitation for some of you listening today.
• 6:57
  You're not listening to this episode by mistake.
• 7:01
  Maybe God sees something in you that you haven't learned to see
• 7:06
  yet because maybe your pain has been louder.
• 7:12
  Maybe a performance has been louder, maybe your recovery has
• 7:16
  been louder, but God has been speaking identity all along.
• 7:26
  For some people, though, the there's a fear of calling
• 7:32
  others. Calling sounds exciting, but
• 7:39
  it's only exciting until it becomes personal.
• 7:45
  Because calling asks something of us.
• 7:49
  It asks us to grow, to trust, to step forward.
• 7:56
  And that's uncomfortable, because becoming requires
• 8:00
  leaving old identities behind. The survivor must become the
• 8:06
  builder. The performer must become the
• 8:10
  beloved. The wounded must become the
• 8:13
  healed, and that transition can feel uncertain because old
• 8:20
  identities are familiar. So we want to keep them around,
• 8:24
  but Colleen is not. There's another point that I
• 8:34
  want to bring up here that I think is important, and that is
• 8:37
  that you are loved before you are useful.
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  And I think this might be one of the most important parts of this
• 8:45
  episode. So I want you to listen
• 8:47
  carefully. You are loved before you are
• 8:52
  useful before your ministry, before service, before purpose,
• 9:00
  before achievement. Jesus had not yet performed
• 9:04
  miracle was Jesus had not yet performed miracles when the
• 9:10
  Father said this is my son whom I love, beloved before useful
• 9:20
  identity before assignment. And that matters because many
• 9:25
  people still live like they need to earn worth through the
• 9:30
  purpose. But you don't Purpose is
• 9:36
  overflow, not identity. A calling is expression, not
• 9:42
  value. God does not love the future of
• 9:48
  God does not love the future version of you more than He
• 9:53
  loves you now. In the last episode we talked
• 9:58
  about recovery and how it opened the door and kept me moving.
• 10:04
  We talked about how recovery became the doorway to life
• 10:07
  change in my life. Through Celebrate Recovery and
• 10:11
  Christ, God began changing things that I never thought
• 10:16
  would change. Freedom began showing up,
• 10:21
  Healing began showing up, Honesty began showing up.
• 10:27
  And eventually, recovery led to a different question.
• 10:31
  Who am I becoming? And honestly, I'm still
• 10:34
  discovering that answer. Part of the journey has become
• 10:38
  writing books and recently opening myself up to speaking
• 10:43
  and this podcast. And if you're listening to this
• 10:47
  podcast today, thank you. Every listener means more to me
• 10:51
  than you would ever know. See, I don't have everything
• 10:56
  figured out and I definitely have not arrived because God
• 11:03
  keeps opening doors. And each season has revealed
• 11:07
  another layer, another piece, another invitation.
• 11:14
  And I think that's what calling often looks like.
• 11:18
  It's not one giant revelation. It appears layer by layer,
• 11:25
  season by season, Faithfulness revealing identity over time.
• 11:34
  But I don't think self discovery in Christ ever ends.
• 11:40
  I think we spend our lives becoming.
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  We spend our lives learning, growing, surrendering, finding
• 11:49
  new layers. And God keeps revealing things.
• 11:55
  He reveals new purpose, new healing, new understanding.
• 12:02
  The journey doesn't stop, it just deepens.
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  Because calling is not a destination, it's a lifelong
• 12:10
  relationship with God where identity keeps unfolding.
• 12:15
  So let me ask you something. Who are you becoming?
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  Not what are you doing and not what happened to you, not what
• 12:26
  you survived, but who are you becoming?
• 12:32
  What has God been inviting you toward?
• 12:37
  What dreams keep resurfacing? What burdens keep returning?
• 12:45
  What gifts keep showing up? What thoughts keep resurfacing
• 12:52
  over and over again? Because maybe God has been
• 12:57
  speaking identity into your life longer than you realize.
• 13:02
  Maybe, just maybe, it's time to listen.
• 13:09
  So what labels are you carrying? What identities are you still
• 13:14
  holding on to? What role have you confused with
• 13:19
  purpose? And who might you become if you
• 13:25
  truly believed who God says that you are?
• 13:32
  Next time on Unmasked, we're going to close this series out
• 13:35
  with our final episode, Beneath the Labels.
• 13:39
  We're going to bring bring. We're going to bring trauma,
• 13:44
  performance, recovery, and calling together and answer the
• 13:48
  question at the center of this entire series.
• 13:52
  Who are you when every label falls away?
• 13:56
  Until next time, remember this. You are not your pain, you are
• 14:02
  not your performance, you are not even in your recovery.
• 14:07
  You are someone deeply known by God.
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  And maybe the journey isn't becoming someone new.
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  Maybe it's finally becoming who you were meant to be.
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  Because remember, grace is greater than your past.
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  And real freedom, true freedom, begins the moment that you
• 14:32
  choose to live unmasked. God bless you.