Article in Stylist Magazine 2010
I was struck by this title in a Stylist magazine I picked up in the tube last week. The sub-head read ”Our whole lives are now played out online – is it harmless entertainment or the sign of an increasingly self-obsessed society?”
Something rings true in this. To do well these days all seems to be about self-promotion, self-marketing and networking where we get to tell everyone how marvelous we are. Not only that but since we are living in a media saturated society, we not only do we tell people how marvelous we are (sometimes on an up-to-minute basis – thanks Twitter) but we get to show them in photos, videos and even cartoons of ourselves.
I have been struck lately reading AW Tozer’s “Pursuit of God” where he suggests that finding a higher more godly life means striking down the love of self. He talks about a veil which stands unmoved in many of our hearts which hinders a close relationship with our Maker and that veil involves the love of self in all its various forms: self-righteousness, self-admiration, self-sufficiency and self-confidence. He even goes on to reprimand the church for admiring such people who are naturally good self-promoters, who love the attention of standing in front of people and whose egotism and false sense of themselves have led others to follow blindly without questioning.
Tozer writes in a style foreign to us today. His 1950′s directness and talk of “sin” and “pride” is almost quaint in its tone. We live in a society so obsessed with not offending that we cannot speak with his authority. I find his manner refreshing and liberating and immensely challenging. If I look at the root of my heart, I can see there is a lot of ME kicking around. “Me” sneaks into conversations where I feel the need to tell people about the great things I have done, the places I have visited, the things I have read (ohh dear) and in those furtive glances in windows on the way to work just to make sure I am looking oh so good!
I realise that in all these things a balance is needed but I think the world is hungry for some “old-time” values and spiritual insight. The fashion world is obsessed with 1950′s style at the moment, people are making cup cakes and woman’s magazine’s bring up topics like the return in favour of the “stay-at-home mom!” (women’s libbers block your ears!) We have come a full circle in many things. I think spiritually many of us have also come a full circle – looking to older theologians and even the monks and mystics from by-gone eras to find some depth, some wisdom, some amazing revelation. The superficialness and “quick-fix”ness of today isn’t satisfying the longings of the heart, a heart that I believe will only find its solace in its pursuit of God.
Tozer suggests that even being aware of our self-love is not enough to remove this thing which stands like a veil concealing us from God. It is really only He himself who can remove it and that we have only to come to Him. “Let us beware of tinkering with our inner life, hoping ourselves to rend the veil. God must do everything for us. Our part is to yield and trust.” (Pursuit of God, AW Tozer) May we all find a life more filled with God and a genuine concern for others and less filled with ourselves.
