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?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
6 comments:
How I laughed at myself when I read this blog post! I wish I could say with any measure of truth that I didn't still succomb to this trap, but I do, more frequently than I would care to admit. And yes, I always end up looking like an idiot, just like Michael Scott!
And you're right, Mike, that the only way to avoid this trap is to remember that we are saved by His blood and called to be His servants, and only in our Union with Him can we shed our insecurities and cease acting like clowns!
In our Union with Christ - in the security of God's love for us, His grace for our past mistakes and the knowledge that he has great plans for us -we become the fabulous person Christ made us to be (which incidently, may be a funny person - we all need laughter, too!)
Thank you, for a great post. I am a HUGE office fan!
Amen to that Lindy!
"Whenever I'm faced with a decision, I think to myself, 'would an idiot do that thing?' and if an idiot would do that thing, I don't do that thing."
Dwight Schrute
Your argument is utterly illogical. How does one find their "identity?" Well clearly through a mythical figure! That's like telling someone that the only way they can know who they are is by watching the Terminator and reflecting on Schwarzenegger's character.
Ridiculous? Yes! Completely!
And no, I'm not an atheist, I just use my head, and urge others to do the same.
Follow up - it is comments like yours, Mike, that give anti-Christians ammunition to attack us. Better to hear it from me than them.
Post a Comment