THE GREAT HUMAN TRAP

I think we fight the very thing which would make us successful. The one thing none want to be may be the very divine secret God has hidden within us to cause triumph in whatever we do. What is the truth about each of us that nobody wants? We claw and crawl to see that we somehow escape the label “nobody”. No one wants to be a nobody.

Henri Nouwen makes an astounding comment, Over the years, I have come to realize that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection……As soon as someone accuses me or criticizes me, as soon as I am rejected, left alone or abandoned, I find myself thinking: “Well, that proves once again that I am a nobody.”

Didn’t Jesus call us to lose our lives? Isn’t humility a credit to character? Why then is fame, recognition, and accomplishment so prominently on our front burners? Why the craving for success and popularity? The surprising apostle writes of a divine secret: Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong. I have become foolish; you yourselves compelled me. Actually I should have been commended by you, for in no respect was I inferior to the most eminent apostles, even though I am a nobody.

Paul was not inferior to any of the other apostles; yet he knew the truth about himself. He was nobody. If he wasn’t inferior…..then the others were nobodies as well! When will we catch on that working with the Living God leaves all other participants thrilled to simply be nobodies? When will it register that the gunky stuff in life which makes unconverted people miserable is the very thing which makes Christ’s followers content? Weaknesses? Insults? Distresses? He lists our lists! Nobodies are content. Somebodies are miserable. One group would be Christian.