[This is post is a little late in coming considering that the Olympics are now well and truly over; however, I thought I'd share something that struck me in a lot conversations and coverage about the Olympics]
When the Olympics were on I heard a lot about two things in particular: 1) about the shock and sadness of Australia's lack of gold medals, and 2) about the awfulness of the channel 9 commentary. I'm going to focus on the second one.
Many people said to me, "That channel 9 coverage is so irritating", "they're just focussing on the Australians, they're talking them up, putting heaps of pressure on them, and trying to come up with excuses for why they haven't performed as well as they have in the past". You get the idea. So many people were frustrated. People living in Australia from other countries were frustrated because people from their country weren't shown as much, or they didn't even get to see events that Australians weren't in. The coverage was Australia-centric. I think even Australians could see the extreme slant of the coverage, and were frustrated that the achievements of others (and even Australians *only* getting a silver medal) weren't rightly celebrated.
We can see that self-centredness is just that. Putting yourself - or in this case, a nation - at the centre of things. It is seeing that the world revolves around you.
Our regular commercial news stations do this too, don't they. If a plane crashes, we are told how many Australians were on board or injured. If there is a natural disaster, we are told what happened to the Australians or 'thankfully there were no Australians killed'. Never mind the fact that countless others have been harmed!!
Please don't mishear what I'm saying; for I love being an Australian. But I am concerned about this Australia-centredness, for it does not help us to consider others. It fosters 'looking out for #1' , which is our nation.
As you can probably tell, my point is that this is not just a problem of our media but is our problem too. Like the media, we are concerned about what happens to us. If a news announcement is made about tax reforms, we immediately want to know how we will be affected. When a train timetable is changed, we look to see if it will affect us.
At one level this is not a problem. We would be foolish to not find out information that relates to us. We would be like an ostrich with our head in the sand.
But I think the problem comes when we just look out for ourselves. Consider this: if everyone is 'looking out for #1', then there is going to be a lot of conflict. We don't live in a bubble. We interact with others. If we only care for our own needs, not theirs, then we will cause them a lot of hurt.
So if this trait causes a lot of pain, why do we act in this way? Why are we all by nature self-centred? Well, this is one way the Bible describes the nature and effect of sin. Humanity has been corrupted. One of the ways we express this is to put ourselves in the centre of the world. We reject God as the centre of the world and replace Him with ourselves.
We can see this expressed in the "I-ness" of this generation. It is the age of the i-pad, the i-phone, the i-cloud etc. Everything is about me. Everything is about what I want. I want to choose. I want to do what I want, when I want it.
Consider then how radical Jesus is. The Bible says that although he is the one who has all power and authority, he "came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many". He is the supreme example of selflessness rather than self-centredness. What's more, we are blessed by his selflessness. He gave his life as a ransom for us. We have been bought back by him. We have been redeemed from our slavery to self-centredness.
Thank you Jesus for rescuing us from our self-centredness.
When the Olympics were on I heard a lot about two things in particular: 1) about the shock and sadness of Australia's lack of gold medals, and 2) about the awfulness of the channel 9 commentary. I'm going to focus on the second one.
Many people said to me, "That channel 9 coverage is so irritating", "they're just focussing on the Australians, they're talking them up, putting heaps of pressure on them, and trying to come up with excuses for why they haven't performed as well as they have in the past". You get the idea. So many people were frustrated. People living in Australia from other countries were frustrated because people from their country weren't shown as much, or they didn't even get to see events that Australians weren't in. The coverage was Australia-centric. I think even Australians could see the extreme slant of the coverage, and were frustrated that the achievements of others (and even Australians *only* getting a silver medal) weren't rightly celebrated.
We can see that self-centredness is just that. Putting yourself - or in this case, a nation - at the centre of things. It is seeing that the world revolves around you.
Our regular commercial news stations do this too, don't they. If a plane crashes, we are told how many Australians were on board or injured. If there is a natural disaster, we are told what happened to the Australians or 'thankfully there were no Australians killed'. Never mind the fact that countless others have been harmed!!
Please don't mishear what I'm saying; for I love being an Australian. But I am concerned about this Australia-centredness, for it does not help us to consider others. It fosters 'looking out for #1' , which is our nation.
As you can probably tell, my point is that this is not just a problem of our media but is our problem too. Like the media, we are concerned about what happens to us. If a news announcement is made about tax reforms, we immediately want to know how we will be affected. When a train timetable is changed, we look to see if it will affect us.
At one level this is not a problem. We would be foolish to not find out information that relates to us. We would be like an ostrich with our head in the sand.
But I think the problem comes when we just look out for ourselves. Consider this: if everyone is 'looking out for #1', then there is going to be a lot of conflict. We don't live in a bubble. We interact with others. If we only care for our own needs, not theirs, then we will cause them a lot of hurt.
So if this trait causes a lot of pain, why do we act in this way? Why are we all by nature self-centred? Well, this is one way the Bible describes the nature and effect of sin. Humanity has been corrupted. One of the ways we express this is to put ourselves in the centre of the world. We reject God as the centre of the world and replace Him with ourselves.
We can see this expressed in the "I-ness" of this generation. It is the age of the i-pad, the i-phone, the i-cloud etc. Everything is about me. Everything is about what I want. I want to choose. I want to do what I want, when I want it.
Consider then how radical Jesus is. The Bible says that although he is the one who has all power and authority, he "came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many". He is the supreme example of selflessness rather than self-centredness. What's more, we are blessed by his selflessness. He gave his life as a ransom for us. We have been bought back by him. We have been redeemed from our slavery to self-centredness.
Thank you Jesus for rescuing us from our self-centredness.
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