Why I Care Which Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle I Am?

Apparently, if I were a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle I would be Raphael. Yep, you guessed it, I got sucked into one of those ridiculous quizzes on Facebook that I’m certain is some form of a ponzi scheme. Thankfully, I was able to restrain myself and not take the quiz which would have identified which Golden Girl I am. Though now as I write this my curiosity is growing…

I just lost.

I’m Sophia–that’s which Golden Girl I am. At least I think. Truth be told, I didn’t understand half the questions. So maybe I’m really closer to Bea Arthur.

Why in the world is my Facebook feed filled with answers to these quizzes? Why do people—myself included—waste 5 minutes of their lives trying to discover which donut they are?

My first instinct is to say that taking these quizzes is about finding identity. Are we taking them because we are trying to discover who we really are? Am I Frosted Flakes or Corn Pops? Am I Bono or Johnny Cash?

While I wouldn’t rule out that identity plays a part, I believe something deeper is going on here. We take these quizzes because we want to be found. We are like the little kid playing hide and seek that giggles and giggles and then experiences a slight euphoria when mommy or daddy finds them hiding behind the curtains.

When I take that quiz it’s as if the world has pulled back the curtain—and now I’m found. I’m Raphael: strong, sarcastic, and the rogue member of my group of friends. “Yep, that’s me!”, I say to myself. And I enjoy the same euphoria I did as a child.

But it doesn’t last. I know deep down that I’m so much more than Raphael. I’m also Sophia (or maybe Bea Arthur). And I’m Spider-man, a chocolate donut, and Richard Nixon—but truly I’m not a crook. I keep taking these quizzes because I desperately want to be found.

Since being booted out of the Garden humanity has ached for a place. To be known. To be home. To be found. To be able to say “Here I Am, This is Me”.

We take those quizzes because of that ache. But hopefully we know that this ache is satiated in Christ Jesus.

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him…(Philippians 3:8b-9a)

There it is: to be “found in him”. That means that whenever the search party goes looking, we’re found hiding in Jesus. It is here that we hide and it is here that we are found. Not with a righteousness of our own—a place that we built that we can call our own—but a place that he built and calls our home.

Be found in Jesus.