> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://thepulse.org/en/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Identity: The Really Good News - URL: https://thepulse.org/en/identity-the-really-good-news/ - Published: 2023-02-28T05:00:14.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-06T18:36:00.000Z - Description: Developing their own identity is the defining feature of today’s 18- to 29-year-olds (New Adults). In the previous articles, we mostly looked at the psychological side of identity development. But how can faith also help us find answers to questions of identity? - Author: Judith Westerheide - Tags: Articles, #target-leaders, #topic-research, #age-young-adults, #translation-pending ****Overview of the “New Adults” series** 1\. [New Adults: Somewhere Between Youth and Adulthood](https://thepulse.org/en/new-adults-somewhere-between-youth-and-adulthood/) 2\. [Identity Between Me and We](https://thepulse.org/en/identity-between-me-and-we-part-1/) **(How Is Identity Formed? Part 1)* 3\. [Identity Between Options and Decisions](https://thepulse.org/en/identity-between-options-and-decisions-part-2/) **(How Is Identity Formed? Part 2)* 4\. [Identity Between Being and Change](https://thepulse.org/en/identity-between-being-and-change-part-3/) **(How Is Identity Formed? Part 3)* 5\. New Adults and the Good News: Points of Connection Once you start looking into the topic of identity, sooner or later you come across the term “identity work.”¹ Behind it is the idea that people work out their identity for themselves. And in a way, that does seem to be the case: [me and we](https://thepulse.org/en/identity-between-me-and-we-part-1/), [options and decisions](https://thepulse.org/en/identity-between-options-and-decisions-part-2/), [being and change](https://thepulse.org/en/identity-between-being-and-change-part-3/), all of it needs to be thought through, balanced and integrated. Searching for and finding your own identity can be quite a challenge, and so in a way it can also be pretty exhausting. But is that all? ## Receiving instead of earning Our faith in God shows us another perspective on identity. In [Genesis 1:26](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/GEN.1.26.NIV?ref=thepulse.org) we read: “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness …’” No sooner said than done. > God creates human beings, puts so much of himself into them and afterward, full of satisfaction, declares over them: “very good” ([Genesis 1:31](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/GEN.1.31.NIV?ref=thepulse.org)). With us, things work a little differently. Before anyone says “very good” to us, we first have to achieve something. Whether it’s a “very good” on an exam, the number of followers on Instagram or our first job. You’re nobody until you do something, and a “very good” has to be earned first. ![A smiling young man in a green vest and yellow sweater walking along the top of a wall, with autumn trees and a blue sky behind him](https://thepulse.org/en/content/images/2026/11/mann-laeuft-ueber-die-mauer-mrj.jpg) Photo: [Mary Taylor](https://www.pexels.com/photo/energetic-man-running-on-edge-of-roof-6008913/?ref=thepulse.org), Pexels But God is different. Right at the beginning, before human beings could do anything at all, he declares his “very good” over them. And he doesn’t stop there. Again and again we read in the Bible how God gives people worth from the outside, and with it identity. That doesn’t mean we humans are without faults and weaknesses. But God’s affirmation, his love and his “very good” are not tied to perfection or even sinlessness, or to our supposedly good deeds, our strengths and everything we manage to achieve. So instead of doing something in order to be someone, the point is to listen, to hear the affirmation and to receive it for ourselves. > We can’t work for it or even earn it, because it’s simply given, like a gift. > But we can receive it. And then realize more and more what exactly that means. ## When God meets us One example from the Bible is Hagar (she’s the woman behind the verse that German churches chose as their motto for 2023). It was none other than an angel who, in the middle of the desert, asked her life’s big identity questions: “…where have you come from, and where are you going?” ([Genesis 16:8](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/GEN.16.8.NIV?ref=thepulse.org)). Hagar was an Egyptian slave. She belonged to Sarah, and since Sarah couldn’t get pregnant, Hagar was told to sleep with Abraham. Her child would then count as Sarah and Abraham’s. When Hagar was pregnant, she despised her mistress. Sarah took revenge, exploiting her stronger position, and Hagar had a hard life. Until at some point it all became too much for her and, pregnant as she was, she ran away into the desert, where the angel met her. Hagar’s answer to the angel’s question comes down to the bare essentials: “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.” That was all she knew to say about herself. But God sees more! He speaks right into her life, gives her specific instructions for her next steps and a calling that reaches far into the future. This encounter with God changes Hagar. She is the first person in the Bible to give God a name. She calls him El Roi, which means “the God who sees me.” ![A smiling young woman with curly hair pointing her finger at the camera](https://thepulse.org/en/content/images/2026/11/frau-zeigt-mit-ihrem-linken-zeigefinger-nach-oben-mrj.jpg) Photo: [Rodolfo Quirós](https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-pointing-her-left-finger-1853349/?ref=thepulse.org), Pexels A statement about God. And one about herself. She is seen by God. That’s who she is. “I have now seen the One who sees me” ([Genesis 16:13](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/GEN.16.13.NIV?ref=thepulse.org)). The Bible is full of stories like this. Whether people flee into the desert like Hagar, hide in a tree like Zacchaeus or try to disappear into the crowd like the woman in [Mark 5](https://www.bible.com/bible/111/MRK.5.NIV?ref=thepulse.org): God comes and speaks to them. And they leave as changed people. Because when God speaks identity into our lives, something changes. > In our encounter with him, we recognize who we really are. And we become who we really are. ## Good news! In a world where you can be anything, where self-determination and achievement are prized, where expectations are high and the pressure is intense, in a world like that, being *given* something, having something *spoken over* you, can be a real liberation! In a world that keeps changing, where fashion trends, opinions and options will be different tomorrow than they are today, in a world like that, knowing a God whose identity doesn’t change and whose affirmation is firm and unshakable can give you great inner peace and deep security. In a world where *identity* is linked with the word *work* and where searching for identity can sometimes feel pretty exhausting, in a world like that, God’s affirmation is really good news. And that makes it a point of connection for reaching New Adults with the gospel in the middle of all these challenges. ## The bottom line > Walking with God means having your identity spoken over you from the outside. This affirmation is the core of your identity and mine. On that foundation, we can set out to look for all the other aspects that also make up our identity. Because it’s God who created us, who made us unique and equipped us with gifts and personality, dreams and ideas, experiences and resources. And he wants us to discover all of that. But not out of emptiness, stress and insecurity. Instead, with the inner knowledge that we are someone even before we do anything. **How can you support New Adults in their search for identity?** - Read the stories in the Bible (in small groups, young adult groups …) through the lens of identity: How did God’s affirmation change people? Look for Bible passages in which identity is spoken over us. How can this affirmation from God still change us today? What does it mean for everyday life, for personal challenges and for the search for identity? - Create opportunities where there’s time and space for God to meet New Adults, for example by trying out spiritual practices together, building in times of silence, setting up a prayer room and so on. - Do it the way God does: Be someone who speaks affirmation over people! And who loves people before they have achieved anything or proved themselves. New Adults need encouragers! ¹ See, among others, Keupp, Heiner; Ahbe, Thomas; Gmür, Wolfgang; Höfer, Renate; Mitzscherlich, Beate; Kraus, Wolfgang; Straus, Florian (2008: 8): *Identitätskonstruktionen. Das Patchwork der Identitäten in der Spätmoderne*, 4th ed., Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag (in German). 💡 ****New Adults** In his theory, Jeffrey J. Arnett speaks of “emerging adults,” meaning 18- to 29-year-olds. I mean them too, but I call them “New Adults,” a term that already exists in the German-speaking world as a book genre for this very age group. I deliberately use the term “New Adults” to set them apart from the many role expectations hidden behind the term “young adults” (see [here](https://thepulse.org/en/new-adults-somewhere-between-youth-and-adulthood/)). Old term, old expectations. New term, new opportunities! *Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used with permission. All rights reserved worldwide.*