Being Bigger Than Ourselves
Friday, July 24, 2009
Time after time, we hear this from uninhibited young hearts.
As humans, we have this deep desire to be bigger than we are.
Why is this so innate?
Where does it come from?
Why is it universal?
And "what" is the solution to being bigger than ourselves?
On Wednesday evening, between fixing dinner, negotiating baths, and building Lego ships I had the opportunity to catch a few minutes of Black in America 2. One portion of the program featured activist Malaak Compton-Rock, the beautiful and talented wife of Chris Rock, as she took 30 students from Bushwick Brooklyn to South Africa. The entire vision behind "Journey For Change" is to give these young people from Bushwick the opportunity to be on the other side of assistance.
The opportunity to give... The power to be bigger than themselves.
Unfortunately, human nature spends so much energy trying to be bigger through force.
We pass judgement, jockey for position and control, criticize and blame, and manipulate until we feel respected and relevant. As the quest to be bigger through force inevitably burns us out, we are left with doubt and fear. These devastating emotions paralyze, and we begin believing we are insignificant and incapable of making a real difference in the world. This is not true. We are simply trying to use the force of our ego rather than the power of our Creator to accomplish our goals and manifest our vision.
Rich Stearns, president of World Vision U.S. captures this beautifully in his book "The Hole in Our Gospel". Stearns transparently takes us through the struggle to leave his position of relevance and material success as CEO of a large corporation and embrace the call of God to real power. He challenges us to open our eyes to the Whole Message of Jesus... Which is not just a private transaction of faith but a moment to moment call to serve the whole world through courage, compassion, and love.
No matter how big we may seem to the outside world, sooner or later, we figure out that if we are not living for others we are simply getting older and smaller.
The answer to being bigger than ourselves is clearly at the core of Christ's message.
His call to purpose never limits us... On the contrary, He shows us at every turn of scripture how to be bigger than ourselves.
... Anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these... John 14:12
Thoughts and comments are always appreciated.
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