As Psalm 139:14 says, God made you “wonderfully complex” (NLT). So, to fulfill God’s purpose for you, it’s essential to look at every dimension of your life and understand the five factors that influence your identity.

For the last few days, we’ve looked at how your chemistry, connections, circumstances, and consciousness affect the way you are shaped.

If these factors are like the five cards you’re dealt in a game of poker, then the fifth factor would be your wild card. Why? Because the fifth factor is your choices, and that wild card affects all your other cards. You can’t control the hand you were dealt—but you can use your wild card to change your life by the choices you make.

The Bible says you were created in the image of God. No other creature was created in the image of God! And he’s given you the ability to choose to do right or wrong. The freedom to choose is humanity’s greatest blessing; it’s also our greatest curse because we make poor choices all the time that harm us and everyone around us. 

What does a wild card do? It can change the suit and number of the other cards you are dealt. You didn’t choose your chemistry, but you can choose what you do with your body. You didn’t choose your connections, but you can make new relationships and mend or nurture the ones you already have. You don’t choose all of your circumstances, but you do choose how you respond to every circumstance. You can’t change the fact that your consciousness—your thoughts—control your life, but you can choose what you think about.

The Bible says, “Every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good” Romans 8:28 (The Message). It may be hard to see the good that can come out of some aspects of the hand you were dealt in life. But the good choices you make are one of the ways God works those difficult parts of your identity into something good.

Your identity is shaped by your choices. What choices will you make today that will positively affect the rest of your life?