Where ever we go today we are continually bombarded with images of beautiful people, celebrities, sport stars, people who have “made it” through the media. The message that comes with these images is that these are the people who you should be like, who we should aspire to emulate, the people by whom we should measure our own worth. Many of us may deny this, saying to ourselves that they mean nothing to us yet I think if we look deep within ourselves we would discover a longing that we could be as beautiful, popular, athletic, successful, articulate, influential, etc. as they are. Many of us may feel that our lives aren’t all that consequential, that we are just making the best of it, doing our duty, maybe making little contributions here and there but for the most part as we look back on our lives little if anything really stands out.
Yet Jesus sad that he “came that [we] may have life and have it abundantly (John 10.10). Paul says that “God demonstrated his “his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8), and that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). These passages say that we are loved, counted worthy of the sacrifice of God’s own son and made new. Through Christ a life that is meaningful, significant and full is made available to us. Yet how many of us think of ourselves in this way or feel we are living such a life? If so why is that so?
It is through others that we discover who we are. It is their words, their actions, their love for us that tells us that we are significant and our lives are consequential. As staff members of a Christian charity my wife and I are responsible to raise our own finances. On a regular basis we send out a newsletter about our ministry to our supporters. A few days ago I emailed our newsletter and told of some of the struggles that we experienced in relating to our neighbours. This morning I received an email from one of our supporters who is a good friend. He thanked me for my honesty and found what I said encouraging. His comments lifted my spirits and made me feel significant. Whenever someone who knows me well shows their love for me through their actions and words, I feel significant. When they tell me that something I did was helpful, encouraging, etc., I feel that my life is making a difference. Through them I experience what the the scripture says is true of me.
It is in the context of a circle of close friends, people who are committed to us, with whom we are vulnerable and know our flaws and weaknesses that scripture comes alive. Our problem though is the more influential voices in our lives often are not those of close friends but the cacophony of the media and the images they bombard us with. Which of these do we expose ourselves to the most, the media, be it tv, magazines, newspaper, radio, fictional books, even Facebook, etc., or a circle of close friends? What we don’t often realise about the media is that even though we don’t mentally engage with its image messages, they still get to our hearts. Their messages connect with those desires in our heart to be known, commended, praised, appreciated, desired, honoured and respected. These desires are valid for they are all aspects of that ultimate desire, to be loved.
Such love though is only known through real people who are committed to us; caring, encouraging, challenging, listening and serving, and who we likewise love. Not disconnected images of people who are portrayed at their best and who become mirrors by which we see ourselves. Images that say “you should be like me” rather than real people who by their love tell us, “you are significant and worthy”. If you find the above scriptures hard to believe then perhaps it is because you lack a circle of people among whom there is a mutual commitment to one another to be available, setting aside significant time to be together, to be vulnerable, willing to lower their image veil and reveal the real person they are and to serving one another, putting the welfare of others before their own. It is only in the context of such people that we will experience the concrete love, both giving and receiving. Through such love we will see that what scripture says of us is who we really are.
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