Rediscovering identity in its functional dynamism
An imprinted spiritual reality
Every man is born carrying within him, engraved in his being from conception, the image of God. Not an abstract idea, not a symbol, but a spiritual reality imprinted in the very structure of humanity. This image was fully manifested in history in the man Jesus, the Son of the Most High. It is not an imperfect reflection, as in a distorted mirror, but the original image, the one willed by the Creator, imprinted like a trademark in the human being.
Herein lies the key to our identity and, at the same time, to the path through which it is called to manifest itself on earth. Man’s identity is not something to be constructed, but an ontological and functional truth to be recognized in the “mirror” of Jesus Christ.
Many look to God for a completion for their shortcomings (passive dependence), while true relationship with God activates a process of self-recognition.
In its natural condition, however, human beings often live within deep dependency dynamics. He clings to others, projects expectations onto them, and seeks outside himself what he perceives as lacking within. This symbiotic identification is at the root of all forms of idolatry. When man does not know who he is, he idealizes people, relationships, roles, possessions, powers or situations, attributing to them the task of filling a lack that actually concerns his identity.
In doing so, man ends up delegating his life. Often unknowingly, he thus gives up living it and reduces it to a survival strategy. He no longer governs, but reacts. He does not bear fruit, but seeks footholds. This dynamic, when transferred to the relationship with God, generates a sick religiosity and is fed by magical thinking.
It happens when man stands before God saying, “Do You, for I am not able.” It is a subtle form of renunciation of responsibility. In this attitude there is no cooperation, but delegation; there is no covenant, but passive dependence. Where passivity dominates, the Kingdom of God is not in action, because the Kingdom is never inactive. The Kingdom is participation, it is co-responsibility, it is communion of will and action between God and man.
Man was created to bring the image of God into the world according to the principle of delegated responsibility. God reigns through man. That is why those who only ask for “give me” forget that they were created to “bear” fruit. An apple tree does not ask for apples; it naturally produces them.
At the opposite of symbiotic identification is identity identification. It is activated when I do not seek Jesus to complete me, but to recognize myself. When I do not approach Him to obtain what I lack, but to discover who I am and live accordingly. “In his image he created him” (Gen. 1:27) is not a symbolic statement: it is structural. Jesus is the original model to whom every man is meant to conform, not through outward imitation, but through inward revelation.
The process of self-recognition
In Christ, God does not merely visit us. He empathizes with us so that we can recognize ourselves in Him.
Faith, then, is not adherence to an idea or acceptance of a doctrinal system. It leads to a faithful process of self-recognition. The Holy Spirit is the mediator of this journey. He does not change our identity: he reveals it. He brings it out, accompanies it “from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18), until awareness coincides with lived reality. “Those whom He has preconceived, He has also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8:29). Predestination is not an imposed destiny, but an original state that the Holy Spirit invites and helps us to live consciously.
Therefore, the believer’s life is not a passive waiting for God’s intervention, but an active cooperation so that his glory may be manifested in the world.
The Holy Spirit does not act in our place, but reveals our delegated authority; we are not distant subjects, but family members exercising the Father’s representation.
This is the principle of the continuous incarnation of “God with us” (Is 7:14). God is not looking for automatons to carry out orders, but for children to do his will on earth.
Children of God are ambassadors of the gospel of the Kingdom and stewards of its manifold grace (1 Pet. 4:10). “To all who received him he gave authority to become children of God” (Jn. 1:12). The authority to represent God that comes from bearing His image. It is the ability to make God visible in the world, according to his wisdom, bringing order where there is disorder, life where there is death, reconciliation where there is brokenness.
The king entrusts his kingdom to his family members, not to outsiders. God delegates His children to rule with Him and exercise on earth His attributes: love, forgiveness, mercy, humility. Every human virtue is a divine attribute made operative by the Holy Spirit in those who are faithful to Him. When we live according to the image of the Son, the Spirit works freely because our will is aligned with His.
In this mutual recognition our kingship is fulfilled. “You have crowned him with glory and honor” (Ps. 8:6). The regenerated man no longer asks God to do for him, but allows God to act in him and, with him, for the purposes of the Kingdom and for the good of others. Here the difference between sterile religiosity and sonship emerges: the former seeks utilitarian protection; the latter exercises representation.
Jesus, when questioned about the tribute, said, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s” (Mt. 22:21). The image imprinted on money belongs to Caesar; the image imprinted on man belongs to God. Whenever we live, love, forgive and administer life according to the Holy Spirit, we are giving back to God what is His: our life and His image that we carry on us. The Christian life is thus the restoration of His image to God, administering every virtue (e.g., love, forgiveness) as divine attributes made operative in us.
Awareness of belonging
To be conformed to the image of the Son means to live with an awareness of belonging. It is not a matter of approaching a distant God to beg or convince, but of representing a Father who is close. It is not a matter of constructing an identity, but of recognizing an innate fullness of identity.
When the Spirit of God dwells in us, every aspect of life becomes part of this continually unveiling process of recognition. Even difficulties, trials and weaknesses become places of revelation. In each situation, step by step, we discover who we really are: children in the Son, living images of the One who became man to reveal to us the face of the Father, according to the faithful action of the Holy Spirit.
Maurizio Tiezzi