Reflection - Who are you?

I recently listened to one of my favorite bands Barlow Girl. One of their songs, Mirror, made me reflect on a few questions about how we all seem to be defined by the standards and judgments of others. See the lyrics below:

"Mirror"

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, Have I got it?
'Cause Mirror you've always told me who I am
I'm finding it's not easy to be perfect
So sorry you won't define me
Sorry you don't own me

Who are you to tell me
That I'm less than what I should be?
Who are you? Who are you?
I don't need to listen
To the list of things I should do
I won't try, I won't try

Mirror I am seeing a new reflection
I'm looking into the eyes of He who made me
And to Him I have beauty beyond compare
I know He defines me

You don't define me, you don't define me

Who are you?
The answer to this question seems to fluctuate over time in your life. When you grew up, you were known mainly by your parents reputation, and as you grew into adulthood, you were identified by your career, your intelligence, your position, your ethics, your morality, your hobbies, or whatever perception others had on you.

But does the judgment of others, or the position that we hold in life really answer the question of who we are? When you pass the layers of our work identity, of our day to day activities -- deep down in the core of our soul -- who are we?

Can He have a say?
I know that I'm affected by the world around me. And so are you. We are affected by what people say, how they criticize us or how they compliment us. Sometimes it plays over and over again in our heads. But no matter how smart you are, or no matter how stupid you think your life has been -- no one has the right to tell you who you are.

It doesn't matter if you have killed people (like Moses and David), or have lied and cheated (like the thief on the Cross) -- we still do not have the right to define who you are. My opinions about people are swayed like the waves of the ocean by the winds, but there is one opinion that matters the most and that comes from the God that made you and the God that makes your every breath possible.

So stop being depressed about the things that have brought you down in the past because none of my opinions or anyone else's for that matter actually means anything when it comes to who you are. The betrayals, the hurts, the sense of loneliness that we all have come to experience, our God has gone through them as well.

He has a clear idea of who you are and it is written in these passages:

1 John 3:1-10 (New Living Translation)

1 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.

---

Psalm 139:13-16 (New Living Translation)
New Living Translation (NLT)

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed.

Summary
You are a child of God and there is nothing that anyone can say or do to take that away from you. Imagine the original feeling that you had when you were a child and you were embraced by your parents, and you knew deep inside no matter what they loved you unconditionally.

This is the very life, the very type of fulfillment that God has been longing to bring to your life. So stop living to the standards of your surroundings and to the restrictions that the world places on you, move on to a life that God has wanted you to set out in the first place: a place of fulfillment, a sense of belonging, and contentment that you are a unique and special person.