I wear a lot of hats.
Quite literally, sometimes, but mostly metaphorically. On any given day, I am a Geographer for the USGS. I am a Woodworker. I am a Quilter. I am a Dad to Job and Arch.
These are important roles. They describe what I do, and they describe relationships I cherish. But they are hats. I put them on, and I take them off. If I lost my job tomorrow, or if I never stitched another quilt, I would still exist. I would still be me.
The problem arises when we confuse the "hat" with the "head."
The Identity Crisis
We live in a culture that encourages us to glue our hats to our heads. We are told that our desires, our struggles, or our behaviors are not just things we experience—they are who we are.
We see this clearly in the conversation surrounding homosexuality. It is a sin that has been elevated into an identity. But it is not the only one. We do the same thing with Pride, identifying ourselves by our status. We do it with Gluttony, identifying ourselves by our appetites. We do it with Lying, when we become so accustomed to spinning the truth that we forget what reality looks like.
The Bible calls these things sin. And the danger isn't just that they are "bad behaviors"—it is that they are competing identities.
I cannot identify as a fish and a dog at the same time; those are contradictory natures. In the same way, I cannot find my core identity in a sin—whether it be sexual, emotional, or behavioral—and simultaneously find my identity in Christ. One definition of "self" will always be at war with the other.
As a Christian, my foundational identity is "Son of the Most High." That is the head. Every other hat I wear must fit comfortably on top of that one. If a hat contradicts my identity as a Son of God, I cannot simply jam it on. I have to throw it away.
The Tension of Absolutes
This brings us to a difficult reality. If we hold onto a sinful identity, does God stop loving us?
No. But the answer is more complex than the world wants to admit. We often think of God’s attributes as a sliding scale, but they are actually absolutes.
God is Absolute Love. He desires to be with us.
God is Absolute Holiness. He cannot coexist with sin.
This creates a cosmic tension. Because God is Love, He wants us in His presence. But because God is Holy, He cannot allow us into His presence while we are clinging to an identity of sin. If He allowed sin into His presence, He would cease to be Holy, and He would cease to be God.
The Way Back
God created us, and He knows we are dust. He knows that we are going to fail. As Romans 3:23 (NASB) reminds us, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
This is not a surprise to Him. But because He desperately wants us to shed that "hat" of sin and return to Him, He didn't just wait on the porch—He paved the road. He provided the way back through Jesus.
Jesus is the resolution to the tension. He satisfies God's Holiness by paying the debt for our sin, and He demonstrates God's Love by offering us a way to restoration. We don't have to stay stuck in a false identity.
The Prodigal Resolution
There is no better picture of this than the story of the Prodigal Son.
In Luke 15, when the son runs off to live a life of wild sin, the Father does not stop loving him. However, the Father does not go move into the pig pen. He does not compromise the holiness of his home to accommodate the rebellion of the son.
The son is in the pig pen, effectively identifying with the pigs. He is separated from the Father not because the Father’s love failed, but because the Father’s holiness is immovable.
The tension is only resolved in Luke 15:17 (NASB): "But when he came to his senses..."
The son had to drop the identity of the "rebel" and the "pig-feeder" and return to the identity of the "son." That is what repentance is. It isn't just saying "I'm sorry." It is the act of accepting the way back that God provided, taking off the hat of Sin, and walking back into the Holy presence of the Father who has loved us the whole time.
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