What Defines Us?

When I first read the Bible chronologically, I remember being surprised by the abrupt leap into the book of Job. It felt strange to skip ahead so many books, but Job has a timeless, almost legendary quality—like the early chapters of Genesis. It reads less like history and more like a parable, a story meant to provoke questions about life’s big uncertainties.

What Can We Take Away from Job's Story?

Here’s a man who has everything—family, wealth, security—and then loses it all in a sequence of devastating events. What stands out is that even after losing everything, Job remains Job. His sense of self isn’t wrapped up in his possessions or even his circumstances. That feels like a central thread in the story: identity doesn’t come from the external things we accumulate.

A Parallel to the Bhagavad Gita

It reminded me of something I once read in the Bhagavad Gita. The idea that Krishna encourages Arjuna to focus on the soul rather than the physical form feels deeply connected to Job’s journey. Both stories grapple with the question of what defines us—is it our circumstances, our roles, or something deeper and unshakable? This parallel highlights the central theme of identity in Job, inviting us to consider where we root our own sense of self, especially in the face of loss or change.

Where Do We Find Our Identity?

And it makes me wonder: where do we find our identity? In a world so focused on labels—political, cultural, personal—it’s easy to see how we latch onto those markers to define who we are. Labels can help us understand ourselves and each other, but they can also box us in, leaving little room for growth or flexibility. It’s a tension that feels especially relevant now, as so many of us wrestle with what it means to belong, to be understood, and to stay true to ourselves in an ever-changing world.

The Enduring Question

Maybe that’s one of the enduring questions Job leaves us with: who are we, really, when everything else is stripped away?