Faith & Identity (Part 2): Identity Beyond Likes, Followers and Opinions

Panelist: Sis. Bridget Akomeah

Church: The Apostolic Church-Ghana, Afrancho Central Assembly

Service: Youth English Service

Date: Sunday, October 18, 2026

FAITH AND IDENTITY: WHO AM I IN CHRIST?

Identity Beyond Likes, Followers and Opinions

Dialogue by Sis. Bridget Akomeah

THE QUESTION

How many of us have ever posted something on social media, like TikTok or our WhatsApp status, and kept checking who liked it, and at the end deleted the post because you didn't get enough likes, or the people you wanted to view it didn't view it?

Today, many young people don't know who they are without their friends' phones, because we measure our value by:

• Likes: to see if we're loved
• Followers: to see if we're important to other people
• Opinions: to see if we're accepted, especially on social media

The problem we all have to know is that social media identity is unstable. Today you're liked and tomorrow you're cancelled. Just like a trend, you can trend today and tomorrow you are forgotten.

So the question we have to ask ourselves is not 'who does the world say I am?' but rather 'who does God say I am?'

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

We're not what social media says we are, because it gives an image of us, but God gives us identity. Instagram and other social media show our best moments. I wouldn't post my worst moments on social media, but God knows our best moments and our worst moments as well, and still loves us.

WHY WE STRUGGLE WITH IDENTITY

• Comparison: we compare what goes on in our private life with people's highlights, but you don't know what goes on with them behind those highlights.
• Validation: we live for a 'well done' from people but not a 'well done' from God, just to impress society.
• We listen to too many voices: voices of friends and social media, but we spend less time in the Word of God, the only place that tells us our true identity.

HOW TO LIVE BEYOND THE LIKES, FOLLOWERS AND OPINIONS

• Know the Word of God. That's the only way to know who you are.
• Spend less time seeking approval from friends and social media, and spend more time seeking God.
• Turn off the noise. Because of social media today, there are many voices and different opinions about the same things, which can sometimes be confusing. So let's sometimes turn those voices off and listen to the Word of God.

CONCLUSION

There's life beyond the likes, followers and opinions, and that is the Word of God. The only place you'll find your true identity.

Amen.