An ego that works

Monday, October 31, 2016

CS Lewis has written a lot of great words over the years:
The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, The Screwtape Letters, Surprised by Joy, The Great Divorce... just to name a few. However, one statement in particular has challenged me, led me, encouraged me, followed me:

"Humility is not thinking less of yourself,
it is thinking of yourself less."


Stop. Read it again.
Let it sink in.

Every time I think I've got it, I see something new in myself, in my friends, my church, my generation. Our egos are searching for something and this quote will help us find it. I did a quick search and found that I've used it in 5 different sermons (2 churches, 2 camps, and a wedding). It's 70 years old but don't think that it has lost any of it's power, pertinence or purpose.

I know my heart, and I've spent enough time with young people to know that our generation has a self-esteem issue. It's so ingrained in our ethos, our lifestyle, our media, that we don’t even know that there is something wrong.



We are forever competing and comparing.
We see humility as weakness not strength.
We think the cure to low self-esteem is to elevate it.

Try picturing an ego that just worked; 
not drawing attention to itself at all.
Not pursuing high self-esteem
or worrying about low self-esteem,
just being… esteemed. 

Not trying to fix problems by thinking more of yourself or less of yourself.
Simply thinking. Of yourself. Less.

The only way to do that is if I think about something bigger than me.
If I see that I'm just a blip,
a moment,
a dot.



And when I find myself here, I see a new reality:
a God who pursues every blip,
who gives purpose to each moment,
who is present with this dot.

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