Forgetting About Ourselves

Check out this great NY Times article by David Brooks. Wouldn't the world be different if we focused less on us and more on our callings from God? Of course, the article could go further-- our task is not just to not think about ourselves-- it's to think about others. It reminds me of this quote from my favorite musician of all time, Rich Mullins:

And especially in a day when so much emphasis and so much pressure is put on us to esteem ourselves. I don’t know how anyone can wake up with morning breath and pillow head and feel any self-esteem. That is not the sort of thing that I want to put my faith in. And in the church—it’s unbelievable to me that this whole follishness about esteeming yourself has leaked into the church. I kinda go, ‘Christ didn’t ask us to esteem ourselves.”

I think if Christ would have asked, I think He would probably say, “Look, buddy, you’d be lucky if you could forget yourself. If you could lose yourself, you’d be luckier than if you found yourself.” It would be wonderful if you knew the names of the trees between your house and where you work, between your house and your church. If you knew that was a tulip tree and that was a redbud. It would be great if you knew the names of the constellations. It would be great if you knew something about your neighbors. It would be a lucky thing for you if you forgot yourself, if you lost yourself.

HT: Jeremy Linneman