Church Offline

We are born with needs. We are born in a state of complete and utter dependence upon others. Depending on how our individual needs are met or are not met, will result in the framework and the blueprint, from out of which our emotional and physical needs will be requested throughout the days, weeks, months and years ahead.

Over time, the denial of our needs – or the inabilities and incapacities of others to meet them – will form and force our self-image, self-confidence, self-worth, and self-esteem to develop. Unfortunately, the development of “self” at some point falls into our hands to chisel through, and our instinctive self-dependence takes over to some degree.

Generally speaking, I don’t make it a practice to shove my spiritual beliefs on others, and I don’t find others who do to be irresistibly becoming. However, I am bold and unashamed to say that I am a follower of Jesus Christ. It is out of this relationship that I wish to communicate my point.

Standing on my belief and understanding of Christian principles, I believe that dependence upon “self” was never meant to be the plan for mankind. I would go as far as to say that I’m not convinced that self-image, self-confidence, self-worth, and self-esteem were ever in God’s plan for mankind either. If the Bible is true, which I truly believe, then one has to conclude by its declaration therein: man was not created to be independent, but de-pendent upon God.

This being the foundational philosophy behind my writing here, to continually pursue a world, where we as individuals are the central focus and the central goal is completely selfish. To journey through this window of time, referred to as “our life” without others being the central focus is unfulfilling, unrewarding and empty.

As I pondered my thoughts on this subject and began organizing my ideas, I thought back to my experience in Marine Boot Camp. Interestingly enough, one of the immediate and primary challenges of a drill instructor is to remove the words “I” and “me” from the vocabulary of his Marine recruits. If you have had the opportunity of visiting Marine Boot Camp at MCRD in San Diego, or Paris Island, SC, you may have noticed that Marine recruits are constantly referring to themselves as “this recruit,” rather than I or me. The philosophy is that by removing the terminology which promotes individuality, a philosophy focusing on others and on the “team” slowly moves to the forefront of the Marine’s thinking. This could possibly explain why the U.S. Marines have the highest number of Medal of Honor awards given to their servicemen, comparatively speaking. The selfless and sacrificial acts of heroic deeds embody the principle: laying one’s life down for his friend.

Imagine a world where the focus on the welfare of others was placed above the importance of our-selves. Imagine a world where self-promotion was viewed as taboo, and the interests in the lives of others were promoted as priority numero Uno.

Consider for a moment a world without the commercialization of vanity and the It’s all about Me aroma of self-indulgence and self-gratification. Shouldn’t life be about giving? About fulfilling? About serving?

Left to the dependence upon others, we inevitably rest our fate in the brokeness and dysfunctions of those struggling to maintain themselves. Reliant upon self-dependence, we are faced with the painful realization that we still need another.

Imagine. Consider.

So, when I see the “About Me” menu option, I almost instinctively respond inside of my head, “Who…What now?”

But again, that’s about Me.