Finding our identity in Christ: What Christians can learn from Bob Dylan

Walking the streets of New York City in 1961, 19-year-old Robert Allen Zimmerman searched for a stage on which to imitate his folk hero — Woody Guthrie, and a pulpit from which to test new identities.

After settling on the name “Bob Dylan,” this young man put on the vagabond boots and twisted collars of a hobo with a song. Later, in the span of just 10 years, Dylan presented himself as a civil rights activist, then a rule-breaking poet, a disassociated celebrity, a mysterious bard and a traveling country singer. In this portion of his life, he certainly was a hobo with a song — a man with no direction home.

After his transition from purely folk music into folk rock, many of Dylan’s listeners felt betrayed, with one fan screaming “Judas!” at a show, American Songwriter said. Beyond distinct musical polarity, a personality shift was recorded in him as well. Whether from drug experimentation, fame or wealth, Dylan was no longer the vagabond impersonator he once was. 

Often, when questioned by the press, Dylan would respond with half-answers or myths, displaying his unsettled identity. For example, in a 1965 press conference, after being asked how he would know when it is time to leave the music field, he responded, “When I get very dragged. No, when my teeth get better.” He also lied about living in Gallup, New Mexico, and growing up in a circus, making the myth surrounding him even greater. This mystery was immortalized in his song “Like a Rolling Stone,” with the famous line “Like a complete unknown,” which seemingly describes his life perfectly.

No amount of theorizing could answer the question: How could someone’s identity be so fluid and undefined? After all, “Bob Dylan” was not even his real name. But to me, as a Christian, I see the value in not allowing arbitrary identity markers to determine any part of my life.

Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” 

The identity struggles of our culture, a culture in which it is a virtuous thing to say, “Yes, I have found myself” and “I stay true to myself,” are not due to the fact that some have not “found themselves” yet. They are due to the fact that our consciences have been made aware of God (Romans 1:19-20), but our hearts are born sinful and detached from him (Romans 5:12). These things come together to create confusion through which many choose to seek their “true selves” rather than the personhood God had previously established for them. We are born under the power of two extremes, and it is God’s grace that pulls us toward life.

Everything that we use to identify ourselves, including our occupations, habits and desires, can be taken from us. I can even change my name if I so choose. A truly stable identity can only be achieved when that which we draw our identities from never changes. And the heart, being deceitful and sick, sways far too freely to find stability within.

If the people of my generation want so badly to know who they are and accurately label themselves as something, they will most frequently “follow their hearts” and do so. Even many who call themselves Christians will follow these flawed whims of their former selves, thereby limiting what they allow the Holy Spirit to do in their lives. 

The identity boxes that many of us live inside are some of the most obstructive structures to our purpose as followers of Jesus. You cannot be a witness to Christ if you are unwilling to leave your self-constructed box. Following Jesus means transformation and braving the unknown of a new identity. You do not have to “stay true to yourself” in this new identity. You only need to stay true to Jesus, which is far simpler, as he does not change as we do. 

And once we are willing to commit our lives to the gospel, we can take the example of Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” in our walk, which says, “And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it / And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it / Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’/ But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’.”

“Discovering who we are” is the fastest road to stagnation and instability. Allowing God to determine that answer is the fastest road to abundant life. And as for me, this is enough: knowing my song well — knowing who I am and what I am to do in Christ.

Kilker is the opinion editor for the Liberty Champion.