more than a bundle of skills

Have you noticed something? We think of ourselves as a bundle of skills, talents and abilities. We are not persons, but abstract bundles with 'soft skills' and 'hard skills'. When meeting new people, one of the first questions we would ask is, "So what do you do?", or maybe a little more personal "So what do you do in your free time?" And we appraise the person from there.

We see the same self-defining ritual carry over onto social networking sites too. On Facebook, "Daphne Tan" does not really mean anything. What I am really defined by is:

Where I work at
Where I studied at
What and how many languages I know
Where I'm from
Where I live
When I was born

Followed by:

Where I used to work at
Where I used to study at
What my religion is
What music I like
What books I like
What films I like
What TV programs I like
What games I like
What my activities are
What I'm interested in 

What my website is
What my email is

Even on much less regulated platforms such as Twitter and blogs, it's so common for people to define themselves like this "Economic analyst. Avid reader. Guitarist. Father. Brother. Son. Husband.".

All this is totally fine (though it gets boring for someone with a restless mind like me). The problem is when people see that this is the only way to define ourselves and to seek our identities from. Facebook users who don't provide as much information are considered less social or even anti-social and uncooperative. People who are not as immersed in or have not internalized such neoliberal discourse are considered people who are less eloquent, intelligent, socially aware and in the case of the disenfranchised, stupid, socially awkward, immature, selfish, boring, and with little to no ambition in life.

This applies the same to the Church. We are more than our gifts and talents. We are more than our charisma, humor, extroversion, eloquence, intelligence, social consciousness, personal experience, intellectual opinion, critical minds, creativity...Jesus came to save the entire person - heart, mind, body and soul, not just the heart, mind and body, or just the soul. It is more mystical than we think it to be in our limited understanding of the spiritual that happens beyond our human dimensions of time and space. Yet it may not be an easy truth to accept. When a friend was confronted with this, he backed away and said "I'll think about it, whether it's true or not." Ironically it's sometimes so hard for us to let go of what we have always thought we were, even if it's giving us so much trouble and woe and may thus be false or problematic.

well she tries to believe it
that she's been given new life
but she can't shake the feeling
that it's not true tonight 

you are more than the choices that you have made
you are more than the sum of your past mistakes
you are more than the problems that you create
you've been remade

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a  living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12: 1-2