Subcultures Part II

Identities are fashioned by the company we keep. We will identify with the "freaks" if we feel like one, or we will surround ourselves with beautiful people (in the superficial sense of the word) if we want to feel beautiful.
So, when we become the "freaks", what is it that lets us identify with them? Is it their acceptance of us, is it our need to belong somewhere, or is it our rebellion against the constructs of society and specifically our rebellion against everything our parents stood for?

Whatever  it is, whom we associate with, that is where we find our identity. This is an over-simplification, since I can put on many masks for different occasions, or as the mood strikes and identify with different groups of people.

What, then, is our identity? It's what the Bible would call our "heart". It's our centre, our deepest sense of who we are. Our problem arises out of looking for exterior things to define us - our wealth, our jobs, our clothes, our hair colour, our tattoos, our piercings, our friends, our car etc. When we find our identity here, we are in trouble, because all these things are transitory. We can also go the other extreme and say we will then find ourselves from within, forgetting that we are just as transitory as the rest. Our identity therefore needs to be found in something that is transcendent, and not part of this world. There is only one place where we can find this and that is in the arms of Jesus, who gives us an identity of sons and daughters of the living God.