By Corey Fields
We hear a lot about the declining influence of the church. Christians today, however, have a very urgent opportunity to provide what I believe can be the most powerful prophetic witness to some serious moral issues. This is the second article in a series on Christian teachings for which there is a desperate need in our world today.
American psychologist Martin E.P. Seligman, in his 1991 book Learned Optimism, lamented a societal trend he called “the waxing of the self.” “The society we live in exalts the self,” he wrote. “It takes the pleasures and pains, the successes and failures of the individual with unprecedented seriousness.”
He sees a strong correlation between this trend and stark increases in depression and apathy. He says that relying only on ourselves for finding a sense of identity, purpose or hope is like relying on a “frail folding chair.”
The “self-made individual” is something of a virtue today, but the problem is that it’s a lie. No one is self-made, and believing that we are only serves to allow us to feel superior to others.
Western individualism, as an ideology, is not altogether bad. It is within such a context that concerns for civil rights and responsibility are emphasized. It’s one thing for the individual to be a protected entity within the larger framework of a society. It’s quite another when we begin to think and live as if the rest of society exists for us.
From the way we treat store employees to our isolated lifestyles, we often operate as our own personal kingdom competing for our own personal space and resources. Personal vehicles, self-checkout lanes and other aspects of our daily pattern make it quite possible to go through entire days without a personal encounter with someone else — at least not anyone by whom we don’t want to be bothered.
Too many speak of “freedom” only in terms of our individual rights instead of a collective reality that must be actively nurtured and maintained. One example of this is the current use of the Gadsden flag with the phrase, “Don’t tread on me.” What was once a symbol of a united people revolting against foreign oppression is now flown in a puzzling protest of government itself. The apparent message is that the pinnacle of freedom is the autonomous individual. Instead of a joint venture to which we all must contribute and a blessing in which we all share, freedom is seen as a personal possession, achieved when one feels unencumbered.
When Pope Francis addressed Congress last week, he repeatedly used the phrase “common good,” correctly pointing out that this is the highest purpose of government and elected office. The common good, however, has somehow become controversial, evoking cries of Marxism, heresy, etc.
The message of the Pope is tame compared to Jesus. His teaching has something earth-shattering to speak to this reality; something that goes far beyond just the common good and getting along.
Once in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, and twice in Matthew, Jesus is recorded as saying, “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”
In these “count the cost” passages, Jesus is addressing what it takes to be his disciple. But he is also saying something very fundamental about where and how we find our purpose and fulfillment. Jesus says that we find what we’re made for in the most counterintuitive place to look: outside of ourselves.
We can get trapped in the dead-end pursuit of self-preservation. Adam E. Eckhart says there is a [false] wisdom of the world which says our purpose is to protect ourselves from all perceived threats. Deviating from this is seen as “foolishly exposing ourselves to attack from a hostile world.” It is self-preservation that makes us withdraw from others in suspicion. It is self-preservation that makes us want to build walls and seal up borders. It causes us to miss out on the amazing life God has for us when lived through self-sacrificial service to God and others.
The original New Testament Greek has several words for “life.” One word is bios, from which we derive the word “biology.” This is the less common word referring to the measurable and physical aspects of life: our wealth, our health, etc. But the word used in these quotes from Jesus is psuche, from which words like “psyche” or “psychology” are derived. James R. Edwards explains the distinction this way:
“Psuche is about the quiddity of life, about its essence rather than its attendant facts, its true nature instead of its accidental properties. Bios is something one has, but psuche is something one is. If bios asks, “How much?”, psuche asks, “How well?”…. Time is the enemy of bios. The enemies of psuche, however, are complacency, indifference, apathy or busyness.”
In other words, if we are preoccupied with our bios, we will miss our psuche. “If we make life our chief goal, it eludes us,” Edwards wrote. “Only if we lose it for something greater do we get it back.”
I think of the many times as a pastor I’ve seen people hurting from a painful experience or loss. The most powerful transformations I’ve seen came not through turning inward and trying to self-heal but by turning outward and discovering ways to serve and help others who may have gone through similar experiences.
Some people “lose their life” for God and others in dramatic or literal ways, like Kayla Mueller, the American humanitarian worker who lost her life in Syria. Even though it was difficult to leave her family and friends behind, she explained her decision by saying, “I find God in suffering. I’ve known for some time what my life’s work is, using my hands as tools to relieve suffering.” For Kayla, it was a choice between preserving her bios or living her psuche. Three years after writing those words, she was captured. One of her letters from captivity made it home to her parents, and she had written, “I have surrendered myself to our Creator …. I have been shown in darkness, light, and have learned that, even in prison, one can be free.”
In Kayla’s circumstances, such words can only be spoken by someone who has lost her life to then truly find it. In fact, such words of peace and purpose from a woman in captivity are rarely heard from people who live in safety and security every day.
But this losing of our life for Christ and others need not involve an exotic or dangerous trip. During my sabbatical study of how churches are engaging in Christian community development, I encountered individuals and churches who found God’s life for them just across the street. A pastor in Aurora gave up (“lost”) his life of stable, suburban ministry and moved into one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. A church near Richmond, Va., began to notice and feel compassion for a trailer park tucked away off the highway. They “lost” their life of comfortable and familiar ministries and have found new purpose and life in a long-term commitment to this small and previously unnoticed community.
When Jesus spoke of finding one’s life, the Gospel writers used the Greek word eurisko, from which the exclamation “eureka!” is derived. It is sometimes translated “discover” and has a certain element of surprise to it, as when the virgin Mary was “found” to be with child. God surprises us with new life that we never thought possible, but the catch is that we have to make room for it.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus said, “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). On our own, we are just a seed. It is only when we plant ourselves in God’s soil that our lives are found, saved, and become more.
What an urgent opportunity we have for a countercultural witness. Our culture of the “waxing of the self” needs witnesses to the power of dying to ourselves. Where the culture says, “Don’t tread on me,” Christians should be heard saying, “I will serve you.” Where the culture says, “Live your own life,” Christians should be seen living God’s life, and inviting others to do the same.