I
read in a newspaper recently that those who find their meaning in life in their
work are going to find this period of lockdown to be very hard on their morale
and self-esteem.
The
author was pointing out that if you derive your sense of value from your job
then not being able to do it leaves you feeling worthless. If your purpose in
life is your work, then your life now has no purpose. If your identity is bound
up in your job, then not being able to do it leaves you feeling like a nobody.
How
do you identify yourself? What are you? What is it that gives you value and
purpose?
The
pop singer Madonna described the pressure that comes from linking your identity
with your achievements:
I have
an iron will, and all of my will has always been to conquer some horrible
feeling of inadequacy . . . I push past one spell of it and discover myself as
a special human being and then I get to another stage and think I’m mediocre
and uninteresting . . . Again and again.
My drive in life is from this horrible fear of being mediocre. And that’s
always pushing me, pushing me. Because even though I’ve become Somebody, I
still have to prove that I’m Somebody.
My struggle has never ended and it probably never will.[1]
In
Madonna’s own estimation, she has “become Somebody”. Meaning that, apart from
her accomplishments, she is nobody, which is not only a sad insight into what
she thinks of herself but of what she thinks of others.
In
the movie Chariots of Fire, just before the 100m final in the 1924
Olympics, Harold Abrahams spoke to his friend Aubrey about how he had never
known contentment. He said he was “forever in pursuit, and I don’t even know
what it is I’m chasing…I will raise my eyes and look down that corridor; 4 feet
wide, with 10 lonely seconds to justify my whole existence. But will I?” His
whole life was about getting the gold medal – that is what he had always
thought would justify his existence, but he was even having doubts about that. Would
this fulfil? Would it make his life worthwhile?
Maybe
you can identify with the struggle. Perhaps you have thought that if you have
children who are smart and successful then you will have justified your
existence; if you have enough followers, likes, friends or views then you are
Somebody; if you have the career you’ve dreamed of then your life will be
meaningful…
But
there will always be the crushing pressure to maintain your identity. There
will always be the questions, “Does this make me valuable? Have I done enough?
Am I worthy now?”
The
gospel offers something better. It tells you that no matter who you are, you
are valuable because you are created and loved by God. This is not based on
your performance, achievements, status or popularity.
You
can have a new identity in Christ. In coming as a sinner to Christ for
salvation, you are accepted by God and that will never change. If you are a
Christian, you can never be more accepted by God and you will never be less
accepted. The Bible says that Christians are “accepted in the beloved”
(Ephesians 1:6), that is, we are as accepted as God’s beloved Son is. This
takes you off the uphill, fast-moving, never-ceasing treadmill of needing and
seeking the approval of others – the only one whose opinion ultimately matters
has accepted you.
This
gives you a purpose that redundancy, failure and recession cannot take from
you. Your purpose is not to make a million or reach the top. In Christ, your
purpose is to glorify and enjoy God. That is something you can do even when you
are in lockdown.
So,
don’t get your identity from accomplishments or status. Get it in Christ – it
will not only save you from judgment, but from having an identity crisis.
[1] Lynn Hirshberg, ‘The Misfit,’ Vanity Fair, April 1991, Volume 54,
Issue 4, pp. 160-169, 196-202, cited in Timothy Keller, Counterfeit Gods, When the
Empty Promises of Love, Money and Power Let You Down, Hodder, 2009, p. 72.
