I GOTTA BE A SOMEBODY
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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.
Meanwhile, the late atheist and popular debater, Christopher Hitchens, had argued that .devotion to our Savior represents the worst form of bondage and seriously limits our personhood. In response, I would like to suggest that living in concert with our limitations. actually maximizes our freedom and personhood. Consider a goldfish who sees an alluring world beyond the limits of his goldfish bowl and longs for freedom. With one supreme effect, he succeeds in jumping out of his bowl only to plunge helplessly to the floor below, where he flips around until dead.
Is this freedom? Hitchens might have answered that, at least, the goldfish had the courage to pursue his dream. However, the fish had enjoyed more freedom within his bowl, within the limits that had been set for him. Instead, Hitchens might have railed and rebelled against God and even his parents who had brought him into the world. But this rebellion is also a rebellion against himself – all that God and his parents had made him to be. Instead, many recognize that they must pay the debt of gratitude to these formative parties. Interestingly, this gratitude equates with an affirmation of what we have become.
Is this freedom? Hitchens might have answered that, at least, the goldfish had the courage to pursue his dream. However, the fish had enjoyed more freedom within his bowl, within the limits that had been set for him. Instead, Hitchens might have railed and rebelled against God and even his parents who had brought him into the world. But this rebellion is also a rebellion against himself – all that God and his parents had made him to be. Instead, many recognize that they must pay the debt of gratitude to these formative parties. Interestingly, this gratitude equates with an affirmation of what we have become.
I have found that the goldfish principle also pertains to humanity. We not only need food, drink, and air, we also need less concrete but every bit as real psychological and spiritual foods.
For one thing, we need to feel that we are beloved and important. In fact, we crave these things and often drive others away with our unspoken interpersonal demands. Consequently, the Book of Proverbs warns:
∑ The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in GOD protects you from that. Proverbs 29:25 (MSG)
We will define ourselves one way or another, either according to human opinions or according to God’s opinions. In a sense, both represent a form of servitude. However, I would rather be in bondage to the one who will always love me, forgives my many faults and transgressions, and has guaranteed me a blissful eternal life. Besides, I have found that as I serve Him, I am actually living in accordance with the deepest truths He has written into my conscience. Therefore, I need not violate my deepest convictions to serve Him.
We were actually made for service. The title of an old Bob Dylan song captures this truth – “You Gotta Serve Someone.” How much more ennobling it is to serve the Creator.
Ironically, when our Lord is first in our lives and this need for significance is answered, we will find that we are better able to attend to the needs of others.
New York School of the Bible: http://www.nysb.nyc/
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