David's mighty men were not the kind of guys you'd want to meet in battle. Fierce, fast, and incredibly strong, these lion-slaying warriors were gifts from God.

But David did the same thing we so often do: finding our identity—the justification for our existence—in the gift instead of the Giver. That's why the author of 2 Samuel put chapters 23 (mighty men) and 24 (David counting his men) right next to each other.

For a modern day version of the same kind of story, there's a woman who graduates from University of Michigan, gets a lucrative degree, and sets out to build her identity on her career. And for a time her career booms, she’s moving up to executive levels in her company...but what happens if that career fails? A recession, a downsizing, a company turnover, it all could end in just one day. Now what? She’s devastated. Her purpose for living, her sense of importance in this life—the very thing that created her identity—has just been ripped from her fingers. And she’ll likely move to new idols like gluttony, bitterness, sexual promiscuity, or even suicide to fill up that new void.

But if her identity is in Jesus, she'll be rightly devastated but not totally; she’ll be disappointed but not crushed, because her identity is not wrapped up in a temporary career but in the eternal Son of God.