Four Stupid Things

We rely on four stupid things to make ourselves feel in control. We don’t like talking about them because when you strip off the excuses we hide them behind, well, they’re pretty ugly.

1. Power. We want to have more resources than others. You know you’re relying on this if you’re more focused on how to duplicate a great experience than on enjoying it.

2. Friends. We want to have more social cache than others. You know you’re relying on this when you feel FOMO about your friends’ friends.

3. Comfort. We want to have more margin than others. You know you’re relying on this when you’re asked to help and your first instinct is to protect your time.

4. Victimhood. We want to have credit for overcoming more than others. You know you’re relying on this when you look for special consideration.

The first gospel written was probably Mark. Some people think it was Matthew but I’m a Mark guy. In any event, the starting place for Mark’s story deflates each of the four stupid things above, and he was pretty clever about the way he shows this. Mark’s first sentence starts “The beginning of the gospel…” and from there he goes on to tell about how John the Baptist was baptizing people in the wilderness. 

It’s important to know that what John was doing was not what we think of as Christian baptism, and it’s not anything we find in the Old Testament either. The Old Testament had lots of types of baptisms and washings - lots of ways to scrub off sin, but John’s baptism was different in one really important way. In all the Old Testament versions you washed yourself. Now, with John’s baptism, you had to have someone else do it. John’s followers had to 1) identify with this social weirdo (John was an odd person: living in the wilderness, eating locusts, etc.), and 2) have John walk into the water with them, effectively standing with them in their sin. 

So what’s the point? First, at the very starting point (“The beginning”) we can’t control our lives, or wash ourselves, not even through power, friends, comfort or victimhood. Second, there’s still some effort involved. John’s baptism required a long walk and an awkward dunking, and giving up on the four stupid things will likely involve some long, awkward commitments too.

So what can we do about this on a Friday? Two things:

1. Decide which of the four stupid things you do the most and try to catch yourself doing it.

2. Let us know if you can think of a fifth stupid thing by writing it in the comments section at the bottom of this page.

On earth as it is in heaven…

Adam