Identity

Part 2 of 7 in Work Smarter, Not Harder

Parte 2 de 7 de la serie Work Smarter, Not Harder

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Brian Hunter · May 17, 2026

Scripture Referenced

Recap

Continuing “Work Smarter, Not Harder,” this week landed on identity by going back to the same Gideon story the series keeps returning to. When the angel greets Gideon as a “mighty man of valor,” Gideon’s response is basically, are you talking to me? He was hiding from the enemy, threshing wheat in a winepress so no one would see him, the opposite of valorous. Brian’s question to the room: whose label is correct, Gideon’s or the Lord’s?

His answer: both descriptions were true at the same time, but one operates on a higher level. He compared it to a plane taking off: gravity doesn’t switch off when the wheels leave the ground, but a higher law, aerodynamics, takes over and wins. Gideon really was small, weak, and afraid. He was also, simultaneously and more truly, who God said he was. Growing into an identity doesn’t require the first thing to stop being true; it requires trusting the higher, truer thing God has spoken over it.

Brian’s summary line was direct: your identity isn’t based on your performance, your position, or even your preference. He acknowledged that might sound basic, but named how much pressure exists (from culture, from social media, from institutions of every kind) to let something other than God define who you are.

Touch Points

1. What label or feeling about yourself feels more true right now than what you believe God says about you?
2. Like Gideon, are you hiding a strength or calling because of how small or afraid you currently feel?
3. Where do you let performance, position, or preference quietly define your sense of identity instead of God?
4. What would it look like this week to act on the “higher law” of who God says you are, even while the lower, felt reality hasn’t caught up yet?

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