Waiting for ME to Die

Single’s Awareness Day lands on the same day every year: Feb 14th. Many people also refer to it as Valentine’s Day. It wasn’t meant to be a day which brings to mind the ways some of us feel alone, but it does. It is meant to be a day to celebrate romance, but if you listen, you’ll often hear the voice of someone who doesn’t like the day because it makes them feel alone. How come?

There is a disease that infects pretty much everyone I know. It’s called, “ME”. It’s all about ME. Whatever you think, do or say, somehow has this mystical bearing on MY life. I’m told that people of other faiths often have feelings of being left out when they are in the presence of a Christmas tree. I’ve often wondered why that would be. I really don’t feel left out of Hanukah or Ramadan. I want no part in those kinds of celebrations. So why would a decorative tree make someone feel left out? Now it occurs to me. They’re infested with ME.

I’m not trying to portray myself as a spiritual giant so I’ll share my personal brand of ME in a minute or two.

As my wife and I raise our family, there are a few things that we have chosen to do quite differently than the way our parents raised us. I don’t want to dishonour our mothers or fathers, so I won’t mention which parent or parents I’m speaking about. Whenever we choose to do things differently, there is usually at least one parent who takes issue with our choices. The general response tends to sound something like this; “When you do things differently, it makes me feel like I did it wrong the way I raised you.” They’ve got ME too. Our choices as parents rarely have anything to do with them, yet somehow, the same ME black magic works its wonder.

In Mark 14, Jesus shares this with His disciples during His last meal with them;

“All of you will desert me. For the scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I am raised from the dead, I will go ahead of you to Galilee and meet you there.” Mark 14:27-28

Think on that for a moment. Suppose that the most important person in your life just told you these words. ‘I’m going to die, and everyone will desert me.’ It’s really supposed to be about Jesus. How horrible! Man, he’s going to face death all alone. Wouldn’t this moment be a time for some empathy? It would, were it not for Peter’s ME.

“Peter said to Him, ‘Even if everyone else deserts you, I never will.’” Mark 14:29

So much for the sympathy. From Peter’s perspective, all he saw was his place in it.

I’m getting sick of ME lately, to the point where I notice every time I refer to myself, and the worst part is, I can’t help but think and talk about ME. I’m doing it right now. It really came to the forefront this week after reading a link from one of my friends on my facebook.

It was an article written by another guy named Kevin. As I read his article, much of it sounded strikingly familiar to some of the content in Alien Love. I sat at my computer screen, ready to send a link to the pages in my book that had made the same statement and had been written years before.

See! This article you’ve linked to, it’s not so hot. Look! I wrote the same thing three years ago, and you’re not asking your friends to read MY writing.

Every time I hear a pastor or an author refer to a topic that I have studied, spoken or written on before, I feel obliged to let them know, “I wrote a letter on that.” In my mind, it’s as if I should hold some kind of licence over the topic, and anyone else who speaks on the matter is stealing my spotlight.

I’m sure you’re not infected with ME to the extent that I am. There might be a place for ME. If I stopped talking about ME, then I’d have to preach at YOU and spend MY time worrying about YOUR sins. The thought of harping on YOUR sins is quite pleasurable, but YOU rarely share your true depravity with me.

Just so you know, I never sent the link from my book. She doesn’t need to know that I wrote on the topic before. I hope I can interpret my actions as an indication that I’m gaining victory over ME. Perhaps I can begin to rejoice that I’m not the only guy who loves Christ.

Enough of ME. How about YOU? Is life all about YOU? Do YOUR conversations always have to do with YOU? How do YOU feel on Valentine’s day if YOU’RE single? How do YOU feel when YOUR friends are celebrating something YOU aren’t a part of? How do YOU respond when YOUR kids choose a different life? Is it about YOU, or can you let it be about them? How do YOU respond when someone runs with an idea that YOU came up with first?

How about in a general conversation? If you’re talking with a friend who went to Cuba, do you feel obligated to share about YOUR trip to Cuba? What if we just got past ourselves, and could actually be a people who listened well to each other and stopped turning the conversation over to OUR lives? There is an intimacy which awaits us, if only we could crawl out from our own little world.

If you prefer to keep your ME, do you really want to follow Jesus anyway? I think we’re supposed to deny ourselves. (Or something like that)