The Michael Scott Syndrome

Probably the funniest show on TV today is The Office that is on NBC. Everyone who has ever worked in corporate America will say that they know people like the characters that are on the show and that is what makes it so funny. But I say, as someone who thankfully has never worked in corporate America, that we all have known people like that. The guy who stands out for me is Michael Scott played by Steve Carrell.

Michael is the branch manager for Dunder Mifflin, a paper company. Michael is one of those guys that is so socially awkward that it actually pains you to watch him interact with people at times. And yet at the same time he will occasionally come out with something so kind and innocent that endears you to him.

The problem that Michael has is that he is completely insecure about who he is that as a result he is constantly trying to put out a different personality that he thinks people will like. He thinks that if he is just funny and "cool" that people will like him and respect him. However, what happens instead is that people think he's an idiot. We all know people like this and they suffer from the "Michael Scott Syndrome."

I had a friend growing up that suffered from the "Michael Scott Syndrome." As a matter of fact, I used to use his name for this syndrome and quite frankly I'm glad to use another name. Let's call him "Joe." The problem my friend Joe had, and may still, is that he was incredibly insecure about his own personality and so he traded his personality for another. Joe thought that no one would like him for himself and so he was always trying to put out this really "cool" personality that was so fun. The irony is that no one liked this alternate personality and they hated to be around him. Since I had grown up with him I knew that this was not the Joe that I knew and so I put up with it, but others did not know that. If only he could be secure in his actual personality then so many more people would have been his friend because Joe's real personality was a lot of fun.

Everyone knows what's it like to be insecure about themselves. No matter how secure someone seems they have many insecurities that they struggle with. As a pastor I hear the stories all the time and often I get to see the real person and I really like the real person. So how can we learn to be secure in ourselves? Ironically the answer is by finding our identity in something other than ourselves.

The answer is finding our identity in Jesus. Now I know that some of you will think that is so completely idiotic, but I really believe it. Before I had Jesus I completely looked to how well I would make things happen or how much people like me. I'm not saying that I don't care about those things anymore, but they have greatly diminished over the years as I have rested in Christ for my identity. And as I have rested in Christ for my identity it frees me to be the very person that God has already designed for me to be.

What do you think? Where does your identity come from?