A Case of Mistaken Identity

Several years ago, I heard a heartbreaking story of an innocent man who spent more than eleven years of his life in prison due to a case of mistaken identity. Law enforcement authorities believed he committed a horrible crime. The poor guy was prosecuted, declared guilty, and his freedom was taken away for a number of years until a so-called witness and those in the justice system finally admitted they imprisoned the wrong guy. 

When I heard this story, all I could say was, “Wow! How much of this man’s life was stolen from him because of a horrible case of mistaken identity?” I began to think about all the promising opportunities this man missed over the years, locked behind prison bars because others said he was someone he wasn’t.

The same thing can happen to you when you encounter people who falsely accuse you of being the complete opposite of who your heavenly Father says you are, or has purposed you to be. And if you believe the false allegations of those who don’t really know you, they can pronounce a death sentence upon you that imprisons you and overrides all God intended you to be.

People will try to make you what they want you to be. Even Jesus experienced this during His short life on earth. Matthew 16:13-19 (NKJV) says:

13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”

14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 

Even those closest to Jesus didn’t know who He truly was, and declared Him to be someone He wasn’t. They had a preconceived notion of who they thought He was and measured Him by their gauge. It wasn’t until Peter spoke by divine revelation that Jesus’ true identity was revealed. 

You, too, need your heavenly Father to give you a divine revelation of who you are. It will revolutionize your life; supersede every false label and negative accusation others, knowingly and unknowingly, speak over your life; set you free from the prisons of low self-esteem, low self-worth, self-hatred, and self-doubt; and set you on the path to divine fulfillment.

You must first understand that God is your creator. You are His spiritual offspring and a reflection of Him in the Earth. Your true identity is rooted in who God designed and says you are. The more you draw closer to Him in greater intimacy the more you will see who He says you are. The Father becomes a mirror in your life and He reflects to your heart who He fashioned you to be in Him.

Other symbolic “mirrors” you encounter throughout your journey can cause you to see either a positive or negative reflection of yourself. Such mirrors include:

• parents

• siblings

• classmates

• peers

• men

• women

• spouse

• career

• financial status

• societal class

• religion

• ministry

• society in general

To help you fully understand how these symbolic mirrors affect your life, let’s look up the definition of a mirror. A mirror is a surface of glass that forms the image of an object when light hits it. In spiritual terms, the glass surface is your mind. The light that hits your mind is all the information you receive about yourself through your environment, which causes your mind to form an image of yourself. This is the image you project until more information about yourself supersedes the previous wave of information. As you gaze into your symbolic mirrors or receive information about yourself from them, you begin to form an identity and image based on what you see, or from what your symbolic mirrors speak into your life.

Certain schools of thought commonly call this “mirroring.” During your formative years (when you are gaining a sense of who you are from your environment) you tend to mirror and pattern your life after what you see, hear, and experience. Mirroring can have a tremendous impact on you, your perspective, and your life in general.

Even Jesus understood mirroring when He started gaining a sense of His God-given identity as found in Luke 2:40-46:

40 And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover.

42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.

43 And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.

44 But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day’s journey; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances.

45 And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him.

46 And it came to pass, that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions.

When Jesus was a child, His parents misplaced Him in the crowd only to find Him in the temple, sitting amidst the spiritual leaders of His day, hearing them and asking them questions. Even though His parents thought He was lost, Jesus was on a mission to find out who He really was and wanted to catch a glimpse of Himself through the mirror of God’s Word as the spiritual leaders were presenting it in the temple that day. I can see Him asking, “Sir, could you please read me that passage again? What did the scriptures say this coming Messiah would do? Can you help me understand what He would look like and who He will be when He comes?”

Failing to follow Jesus’ example in seeking to find your true identity during your formative years (whether it’s your actual formative years or your spiritual formative years when you are being developed in Christ), can cause you to lose a sense of who God really intended you to be early on. Just as Jesus’ parents lost Him in the crowd, if you’re not careful, you can become lost in the crowd of man’s negative opinions of you and lose sight of who you really are in God.

That’s why you must consistently cultivate a relationship of intimacy with the Father, your Creator. When you constantly spend time with Him and gaze into His Word, you can grow up with a positive view of yourself. In doing so, you avoid a lifetime of being imprisoned by the negative and false narratives presented by your symbolic mirrors, who hold you captive on the basis of a case of mistaken identity. 

Your symbolic mirrors can’t always see you as God sees you. They know (see) in part and prophesy (speak) in part (1 Corinthians 13:9-10, NKJV). But Your Creator knows and prophesies who you truly are in Him. He wants to be your mirror so He can reflect and project His image in and through you, leading you to a life of freedom and divine fulfillment in Him. Seek Him and allow Him to redeem you from every case of mistaken identity in your life.

©Tarsha Campbell, All Rights Reserved. Use only with permission

This article is an excerpt from Coach Tarsha’s book Woman in the Mirror: A Case of Mistaken Identity. For the full teaching, order the book by clicking the book title. The book is also available on Amazon and where books are sold.