To prove that we have value and significance might be as
great a driving force as hunger. In “The
Significant Life,” George M. Weaver illustrates that we are so crazed to
achieve significance, or at least name recognition, that we will commit acts
that bring us condemnation rather than commendation:
·
In 2005 Joseph Stone torched a Pittsfield,
Massachusetts apartment building… After setting the blaze, Stone rescued
several tenants from the fire and was hailed as a hero. Under police
questioning, Stone admitted, however, that he set the fire and rescued the
tenants because, as summarized at trial by an assistant district attorney, he
“wanted to be noticed, he wanted to be heard, he wanted to be known.” (44)
Evidently, our quest for significance is so powerful that it
can overrule the moral dictates of conscience. One mass-murderer gunman
explained in his suicide note, “I’m going to be f_____ famous.” (45)
This drive for significance can even override all other
affections. On December 8, 1980, Mark David Chapman, a zealous fan of the
Beatle, John Lennon, first obtained his idol’s autograph before gunning him
down. He explained:
·
“I was an acute nobody. I had to usurp someone
else’s importance, someone else’s success. I was ‘Mr. Nobody’ until I killed
the biggest Somebody on earth.” At his 2006 parole hearing, he stated: “The
result would be that I would be famous, the result would be that my life would
change and I would receive a tremendous amount of attention, which I did
receive… I was looking for reasons to vent all that anger and confusion and low
self-esteem.” (47)
By attaching himself to someone greater, Chapman was able to
elevate himself. Was it “low self-esteem” or merely Chapman’s own way to
achieve what everyone else is trying to achieve – importance? Weaver reports
that:
·
More than two hundred people confessed in 1932
to the kidnapping and murder of the infant son of famed aviator Charles
Lindbergh. (50)
This is a testimony to human but desperate attempt to be a
somebody. Our honor or self-respect is something that is more carefully guarded
than our money. Disrespecting the wrong person can easily cost us our lives. Entire
people groups are consumed by hatred towards those that they feel have deprived
them of their due recognition and respect.
Is there not any release from this obsession? It seems that this
is a thirst that is unquenchable. The richest man in the world, John D.
Rockefeller had been asked “How much more money do you need to be happy?” His
answer was highly revealing of our nature – “Always a little bit more.”
This suggests that we cannot give our neighbor what he needs
to calm his soul. We can never give him enough affirmation or love, as most
wives will gladly attest about their husbands’ egos. The need lies far deeper
and is barely touchable by human hands and therapies.
Perhaps, instead, we have to lay aside the quest to prove our
significance. Is there an alternative to this all-consuming obsession? Yes! We
were made to find our significance and personhood within a relationship with
the One who created us. We were never intended to float our own boat but to
navigate His. Jesus put it this way:
·
"Do not worry then, saying, 'What will we
eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?' For the
Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you
need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and
all these things will be added to you. (Matthew 6:31-33; NASB)
If we put Him first, He will put us first. This pertains to
all of our needs, not just the physical ones. Paul had written that if God is
for us, nothing can be against us (Romans 8:31-32), not even our obsessive
craving to validate our self-worth. Instead, His worth and righteousness becomes
our worth and righteousness:
·
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no
longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for
me. (Galatians 2:20)
Therefore, look to Him, where our own value resides. Turn
away from the self in which you will find no rest.
We might not yet feel that these truths fit. However, we
must practice, digest, and clothe ourselves with them until the Spirit makes
them fit as precisely-tailored garments. These have proven a great relief from
the tsunami of our inner cravings.
No comments:
Post a Comment