I’ve Found Somebody Else

Tonight’s episode of The Big Bang Theory revolves around Sheldon’s realization that he is NOT the center of his friends’ universe.

Now, I don’t want to turn away any readers but in MY world, I am the star and everyone else is supporting cast, bit players and walk-ons.

Leave it to God to come in and insist on snatching the spotlight.

As I go about my day, I assume the lead role but when I get time alone with God, I feel like the young prince of Siam in The King and I when Anna informs him that his map of his country is not to scale. She reveals an actual map of the world and he finds his kingdom dwarfed by the rest of the world. Wake up call, “your Highness.” It doesn’t all revolve around you.

Yeah, that’s usually how God greets me.

My friend teaches a journalism course to college students. She was apoplectic this week when she learned that her students (journalism majors) didn’t know who Moammar Gadhafi is. In her indignation, she challenged them to name the the countries in the Mid-East currently experiencing unrest. They were able to come up with Egypt.

Funny how that only made her more indignant.

No matter how amazing we think America is, in Biblical terms, the center of the world is located in the Mid-East. It is the drain around which all history circles and swirls.

We need to walk away from the concept that the world revolves around the street where we live.

And the journey for every individual believer is the long walk away from the starring role in our own lives.

Mercy Me sings a catchy song called “So Long Self.” The chorus says this “So long, self, Well, it’s been fun, but I have found somebody else. So long, self. There’s just no room for two so you are gonna have to move. So long, self. Don’t take this wrong but you are wrong for me, farewell. Oh well, goodbye, don’t cry. So long, self.

The apostle Paul said it less lyrically in Philippians 2:3-4: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.”

That, “Your Highness,” is a life-long climb up the Mt. Everest of the soul. And there is nothing glamorous about learning to put God in the center of your life, looking out for others’ interests and dying to self. It’s jaw-clenching, teeth-grinding, eye-rolling, sweat-producing work.

But, the payoff is huge, bigger and better than sticking a flag in the snow atop an icy hill.

In The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon tries to remain at the center of his circle by ditching his friends. In the end, he realizes life is better in relationship than alone at center stage.

Leave it to a fictional character to get it right. God even reaches out through network television. He is THAT cool (and THAT determined to reach us all with the truth.)