The Bible says there’s nothing simple about you. You’re complex and multifaceted. You’re not easy to understand or explain. In Psalm 139:14, David says, “Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!” (NLT).

To make changes in your life and become all that God intends for you to be, you have to look at every dimension of your life, not just one. As Ecclesiastes 7:18 says, “A person who fears God deals responsibly with all of reality, not just a piece of it” (The Message). 

For the next few days, we’re going to look together at five factors that create your identity. You did not choose these factors. God dealt them to you.

Have you ever played a game of cards? Usually, you have to play the cards you’re dealt. You don’t get to mix and match them. You don’t get to say, “I want to play someone else’s hand instead.” You can only play the cards you’re given.

In many ways this is a metaphor for life. Some things are just part of the hand you’re dealt—like your parents, birthplace, race, and talents. You didn’t choose them—but that’s what you have to play with, like it or not.

The Bible says a lot about the factors that you’re given in life that make you you. In fact, the Bible gives four facts that are true about each aspect of your identity.

Everything in the world is marred by sin. No part of your life is perfect because nothing in this world is perfect. The weather is broken. The economy is broken. Your body is broken. Your relationships are broken. Nothing about life on Earth is perfect—so nothing in your life will ever be perfect.

God sent Jesus as your Savior. Jesus came to save you from your sin and for heaven—but also to save you from yourself. When you accept Jesus as your Savior, he can change those cards you’ve been dealt into a winning hand.

You will give an account to God of how you lived your life. God won’t judge you based on someone else’s hand. But he does expect you to play the hand you’re dealt in life to the best of your ability and to make the most of what you’ve got.

The Bible tells you how to become all God created you to be. In other words, the Bible gives you what you need to win the game with the hand you’ve been dealt.

For the next few days, we’re going to look at the five things that make you uniquely you—chemistry, connections, circumstances, consciousness, and choices. When you understand your unique, complex identity, then you can begin to make changes to become all God created you to be.