When you playback the highlight reel of your life, who is the main character? Think about your most defining moments. Think about the moments you long to be known for. Think about your greatest successes and failures. Where is the setting? Are there any central themes? What is the plot? Who is the main character? Who are the extras?
If I were honest in reflection, I would admit that my life story is all about me. My life is about me seeking to be known for my greatest moments while avoiding my worst, finding validation, seeking to find security in others, and longing to know it’s okay to be me. While protecting my image to maintain my following, I feel exhausted. Every moment of every day, I have to be the person people like. I have to be successful. I have to know what I’m doing with my life. I have to display confidence when I doubt myself.
When you reflect on your highlight reel, how do you feel? Are you proud of how awesome your life is portrayed to others? Maybe you’re like me in reflection. Are you seeking to be known and accepted by others? Are you longing to find the “you” that people would like? Is your longing for success greater than your longing for self-care?
Being the main character of your life story can be exhausting. The pressure of producing a life worth living can be vicious. In the darkness of personal reflection, where do you find yourself? When you examine your heart, do you like the person you see? Are you living? In the monotonous cycle, are you fulfilled? Do you have life? Is there joy in the hardship? Is there hope for tomorrow?
John 10:10 says, “The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Is being the main character in your life leading you to live life to the full? Is maintaining the likable image of a successful person destroying you on the inside? In John 10:10, Jesus is telling the story of the Good Shepherd and his sheep. Jesus describes the Good Shepherd as a man who knows his sheep by name and leads them by his voice. The Good Shepherd will lay down his life for His sheep. The Good Shepherd knows the sheep, and the sheep know the Good Shepherd. The story describes a picture of Jesus. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and he knows His Children. He loves them and protects them. As the thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy, Jesus comes to give life and life to the full. What gives the sheep life? The sheep find protection and life from following the Shepherd. The Shepherd knows where the sheep should graze and rest. The Shepherd knows what is most nourishing for the sheep. When the sheep wander aimlessly away from the flock, the shepherd comes to find them and save them from destruction. Just as the sheep find life by following the shepherd, we only find life by following Jesus. Following our ideas and the voices of success, validation, and acceptance only leads us away from the flock to destruction. But, following and obeying the word of God leads us to life. Life is only found when we follow Him.
In Matthew 16, Jesus is talking to His disciples and says, “Whoever wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?”
The command to give up your own way and take up your cross is not a bright and feel-good charge to the people. Jesus refers to taking up His cross and His crucifixion, paying the cost of our sins so we may be forgiven of sin and given access to God even when we do not deserve it. Jesus is referring to His death. He tells the people that you must die to yourself and seek a greater purpose than yourself. Do not live for the moment or live so that you would be known, rather die to yourself so that others would know the everlasting, unconditional love of Jesus.
As a follower of Jesus, your life is not your own. Out of love for Jesus, you obey his world and seek Him before you pursue your ways. As a follower of Jesus, you are free from the expectation of needing to be loved by people, free from needing validation from others, and free from maintaining your likable image. We are free because in the love of Jesus Christ, you find love, peace, understanding, validation, and purpose. Living in submission to Him, you find rest. Jesus loves you so much that even in your sin, before you knew him, He loved you! He saw you! When he was being crucified, He wore the crown of thorns on his head and nails were pierced through His hands and feet. As blood was dripping down His face, you were on His mind. Jesus was thinking of you! Jesus loves you despite your flaws and sin!
Thankfully, as a follower of Jesus Christ, you do not have to be the main character of your life story! The pressure is off to maintain a likable image worth following! When Jesus Christ is the main character of your life, you are given the freedom and pleasure to be the nameless extra. In God’s great story, which started by God breathing life into creation, which led to the creation of people. God sent Jesus to be restored from sin, find purpose, and be fully satisfied in Jesus. In that same grand story, God created you! You have a part in God’s great highlight reel! You have the honor and privilege to be an extra in God’s story! When we understand God’s love for us, we acknowledge that God is no longer an extra in our life story, but we are an extra in His! If we give God the pen to our life story, giving Him the authority to write, He will write a story we could have never dreamed or imagined! When God holds the pen to our lives, writing our life story, He will write a story much bigger than yourself. He will write a story filled with purpose, hope, and joy by allowing the plot, setting, and theme to tell His story of everlasting love so that others may find life to the full in Him!
