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Yes, the lowercase title was on purpose.
As has increasingly occurred since I've become closer to mortality, I've recently had an epiphany regarding my place in the universe: I'm nobody special. Lest you think this is an attempt to fish for knee-jerk responses that my assessment is too harsh or negative, allow me to elaborate. I spent the best part of my youth pursuing ridiculous goals. That they were ridiculous only became apparent through the high-powered lens of advancing years. Things such as rock stardom, premarital sex and alcohol-induced euphoria were the principal sorts of soul-corrupting antics I foolishly sought out and experienced to varying degrees. In retrospect, perhaps the most driving factor in my indulgences was the misapprehension that I was someone special who deserved X, Y or Z. More succinctly, I was driven by the ignorant assumption that I was entitled to these 'rewards' simply because I wanted them. In the end, I finally uncovered the truth that many high-profile and successful people also uncover eventually: no matter what I accomplish, no matter what I amass, no matter where I end up, no matter how important the world thinks I am... ...I am still just a piece of pottery with the same issues, concerns, anxieties and burden of sin. So how does one best deal with what many would consider a brutal reality? By simply accepting it. There will always be someone smarter than you, richer than you, more handsome or pretty than you, better than you in so many different ways. Human beings were not meant to be lifted up as godlike avatars of excellence. Although some have reached epic levels of recognition for their noteworthy and impressive accomplishments, to what momentous value can all those accolades be assigned when everyone must face the compulsory expiration of breath and heartbeat? I realize there are groups of brilliant and wishful thinkers in the world who imagine a future where we find some clever way to cheat death, but they are doomed to failure. Our fates were sealed from the beginning, and although there is much room for each of us to forge a unique and consequential existence, there was never any guarantee that we could all elevate ourselves to the summits we foolishly imagine are ours to occupy. Taking a step back, I imagine for those of you reading this who haven't rejected my commentary altogether, you may wonder what good could possibly be wrung from this seemingly negative, nihilistic thought process. For those unafraid of the possibility that I am correct, I will now explain the inestimable value of recognizing our relative insignificance. Despite the ego-crushing idea that none of us are anything special, the One who created us all sees us in a way we can't even see ourselves. This is overwhelmingly evident by His attention to innumerable astonishing details in the universe He created for us. The true value of being human is that we were created by a God who clearly loves and values each and every one of us, like a unique and priceless work of art that reflects His image in the most gratifying way. This would be enough to generate paradise in a millisecond if we didn't continue to cling to the idea that what matters most is what we think of ourselves, or what other humans think of us. If we instead maintained focus on the One who created the universe and placed us here with nearly unlimited potential, we would arrive at the unavoidable conclusion that this world is clearly ruled by an entity who wants nothing more than to destroy God's most loved creation, that being us. That so many think God is an imaginary Sky Daddy who was invented by people who can't face reality, is a powerful and conclusive testimony to the effective methods Satan has used and continues to use on those too proud, ignorant and foolish to realize it. Jesus said this about the thief known by us as Satan: "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." One of the most bitter ironies of our lives is the biased lie that to seek and follow God means you must abandon everything that makes life worth living. Instead, the truth is that nearly every misery we experience is connected to the delusion that we are the masters of the universe. What would the world and our lives look like if we stopped pretending that any of us were more special than anyone else? Expressed another way: What would our shared existence look like if we all sought to follow the will of the Lord, and not our own self-centered whims? For a glimpse, you need only read about the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve succumbed to the Serpent's sophistry. In a word, paradise. The basic lesson that plays out twenty-four hours a day in every living and breathing individual on the planet, and the one that human beings seem to have to learn over and over and over again is this: If you obey the Lord, your rewards are endless; if you rebel against the Lord, your travails are just as endless. That is the hard-wired nature of the universe that He created. The unpopular nature of this maxim in 21st century western culture does not diminish its veracity. |