We make choices every day that have small and large impacts on the world around us. Most of us, if we’re honest, live lives that lack critical thinking or space for helpful reflection. We live lives that are trapped in the day-to-day rhythms and routines. We do good. We do evil. We do small tasks. We do large tasks. We speak kind words. We speak meaningless words. We spend money. We spend time. Yet most of us don’t have any idea why we are who we are and why we’re becoming the kind of people we’re becoming.
As the ancient philosopher Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Here’s the reality of Socrates’ statement: An intentional life doesn’t happen by accident. There is no greater example of this reality than the life of the average adolescent. The high demands placed on our young people, along with the around-the-clock schedules imposed on them, make it nearly impossible for an adolescent to live any other way than reactively. When you ask a young person why he or she has made certain decisions, they likely will respond immediately with, “I don’t know.” Adults often are able to interpret this as a dismissive or disrespectful response when, in fact, it could be one of the most honest statements our students ever make.
When a young person makes a wise or foolish decision, adults often want to focus on that specific action. We make behavior the thing that matters most; but when we do this, we fail to recognize there is always a thing behind the thing. One way to begin to examine our own lives—and invite our students to do the same—is acknowledge that behind every choice a person makes and every action a person takes are thoughts and feelings that are informing those actions. Behind all those thoughts and feelings is how an individual answers basic questions about his or her own existence.
The words we use, the actions we take, the people we share our lives with, and how we spend our time and money are manifestations of the questions we’re all asking and that propel our lives. The truth is that we gain access to the life God made us to live by becoming aware of how the basic, root questions about our lives that we’re asking are shaping the kind of people we’re becoming.
Who Is Moses, and Who Is God?
Our society provides countless ways for all of us, specifically young people, to identify themselves: through achievement, race, economic status, family name, gifts, talents, or with individuals or specific groups of people. This is because one question common to the human experience—transcending age, time and culture—is related to identity. The question: “Who am I?”
The ways we answer that question lead to specific thoughts, feelings and actions. For example, when someone answers “Who am I?” with a response that communicates something such as, “Unloveable,” we shouldn’t be surprised when he or she is thinking negative thoughts, feeling depressed and ultimately making choices that reflect a belief that that is, in fact, his or her identity. The kind of people we’re becoming is influenced by the questions we’re asking.
However, the call of the gospel is to live our stories within God’s great story, not just seeking to answer “Who am I?” but continually answering this question by continually asking, “Who is God?”
In the first two chapters of the Book of Exodus, readers are introduced to the child of a slave who was meant to die via genocide. He providentially was rescued and adopted into the Egyptian royal family, only later to commit murder as an adult and flea to a neighboring land. The Moses we find in
When God met Moses on Mount Sinai in the form of a burning bush and commissioned him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, it’s no surprise that his response is, “Who am I?” (
In order for Moses to make the choice to change the course of his life, to take new action, and accept God’s call to rescue the Israelites, he needed to revisit the question, “Who am I?” The only helpful response to this question was immediately to ask, “Who is God?” The rest of the biblical story and the backstory to the Exodus event recorded in the Book of Genesis is the addressing of these two questions.
These are the two questions that drive redemptive history forward. The unfolding of the biblical drama demonstrates what theologians call progressive revelation, and this drama progresses until it climaxes in the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. If, in fact, this is the climax and fulfillment of the biblical story, then it only makes sense that the very nature of Jesus demonstrates the asking and answering of the questions, “Who am I?” and “Who is God?” Being fully human, Jesus is the ultimate demonstration of what it means to be human as God intended. Being fully God, He is the clearest window through which we can understand the mystery of the divine. Jesus’ identity confronts humanity with the asking and answering of these two questions.
When we grasp the power of these questions and their existence as the backdrop of the biblical narrative, we’re able to unlock a hermeneutic that provides a more helpful reading of the Bible and of our own lives. The point of the story isn’t that the reader is supposed to imitate King David. The point of the Torah or the commands in the epistles isn’t to proof text a systematic theology or formula for managing our individual sins and behaviors. The point is to provide answers to these two questions within the context of the larger biblical narrative as it intersects with our lives and transform our identities as followers of Jesus.
These two questions are the questions to ask when we encounter every story, poem, prophecy or proverb in Scripture. When we encounter these stories we have to ask:
How does this story answer the question, “Who am I?”
• What does it show us about the natures of the individual characters in this story and their understanding of the human condition?
• In what ways is this new insight for those who first experienced these events or first heard this story?
• In what ways is this new insight for the modern reader given that we have access to the full biblical narrative and the church’s interpretation of this narrative for the past 2,000 years?
How does this story answer the question, “Who is God?”
• What does it show us about the nature of God in this story and the characters’ understanding of the mystery of the divine?
• In what ways is this new insight for those who first experienced these events or first heard this story?
• In what ways is this new insight for the modern reader given that we have access to the full biblical narrative and the church’s interpretation of this narrative for the past 2,000 years?
Asking Students These Questions
As youth workers, we must embrace our role as ambassadors for the question, “Who am I?” modeling the reality that asking and answering this question is a life-long process. The truth is that as soon as we answer this question, it’s likely we will find ourselves in situations where we’re forced to ask the question again. Asking questions often can feel dangerous or threatening for students in religious settings such as our programs and small groups, where adults at least appear to be confident about what they believe. This is why proactively working to create a safe, imaginative, and fearless environment may be your first task in this process. Then you can begin exploring the ways your programming and curriculum are implicitly and explicitly engaging the questions, “Who am I?” and “Who is God?”
When students ask questions, youth workers often feel pressured to provide quick and definitive answers. If our students are brave enough to wrestle openly with questions related to their identities, we’re likely to want to tell them who they are or who they should be. However, rather than providing a quick response or pat answer, we can have a lasting impact by allowing them to ask and answer this question through self-discovery and the work of the Spirit in their lives. We can affirm the asking and answering of this question as common to the human experience and invite them to begin discovering answers to this question by asking, “Who is God?” When we have the courage to ask, “Who am I?” and “Who is God?” with our students, we’re inviting them to participate in a journey that is rooted in the biblical narrative and has been unfolding throughout history. This is a dynamic process of discovery that some refer to as transformation, spiritual growth or spiritual formation that keeps on repeating, growing and maturing. During this process, the journey with our students is as important as the destination. The asking of the questions is as important as the answers.
Encouraging the asking and answering of these two questions propels our students on a life-long faith process. This opportunity invites us as youth workers to move past our focus on the immediate behaviors and actions of our students and to engage them in the process of examining and reexamining their lives as they pursue following Jesus. So we join students where they are and share life with them. We help students ask the next question and find and trust God through every question, answer and experience. We continually invite students to believe the good news that the answers to the questions, “Who am I?” and “Who is God?” can be found in the Person of Jesus Christ.
Matt Laidlaw is a graduate of Kuyper College and Grand Rapids Theological Seminary and has lived and studied in the Middle East. He serves as an adjunct instructor of Bible at a local college, leads camp, retreat and pilgrimage experiences, as well as writes, teaches and trains on student ministry and theology. Matt is a sports enthusiast, poor joke-teller and food snob.
