Steele: Following Christ means getting over ourselves
It has been often said that we are our own worst enemies. A couple of years back I read an article that confirmed this truism. It was entitled “Killed by His Own Beard.”
The story chronicled the fabled demise of one Hans Steininger of Austria, a mayor who in the 1500s sported a beard measuring 4.5 feet long. Yes, you read that correctly; facial hair that exceeded the height of an average 9-year-old child.
On most days the hairy hero of the town would roll up his beard and stow it away in his pocket for safe keeping so as to prevent any potential misstep. That is, until that fateful day of September 28, 1567, when fire engulfed the city and panic quickly ensued among its residents. Eager to assist, Steininger leapt up from his seat and began to run toward the flames, forgetting to fold his facial hair which was now freely flowing around his feet. And, stepping on his own beard, he fell down a flight of stairs, fracturing his neck.
Following his untimely death, the town’s residents removed the wiry wonder of the world from its owner and posthumously preserved it in all its glory and length. Four and a half centuries later, the beard remains enshrined inside a glass case in a museum in Steininger’s home town of Braunau am Inn.
And while few of us may be distinguished with such an inglorious claim to fame as Hans Steininger, it does seem quite apparent that we are often a danger to ourselves.
The Scriptures affirm this conclusion. James says we are tempted when we are drawn away by our own sinful desires which, when acted upon, ultimately lead to death (James 1:14-15).
That is in fact one of the central tenets of the Christian faith; our sinful choices have led to our spiritual death (Rom. 3:23).
But it is also our lived experience.
We get in our own way, stumbling over our own inner inclinations, tripping over our troubling tendencies. In our most honest moments with ourselves we admit inasmuch. At the very least, we can see this propensity in others. Each of us are bent toward destruction.
The solution is getting over ourselves, cutting out of our lives any behavior, habit, or attitude which might cause us to fall. The Apostle Paul, that great instructor of the Christian faith, spoke of being crucified with Christ. Jesus called it dying to ourselves. And he said it must be done daily.
No doubt this remedy is both counter-intuitive and counter-cultural. I must die to myself in order to prevent my self-destruction? What about self-expression and individualism?
Certainly dying to live is paradoxical. But it is self-expression and individualism which got us into this fix to begin with.
So it might be time to trim the beard, so to speak, or anything else that might be in the way of following after Christ. The author of Hebrews said it better. “Let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Augusta columnist Kevin Steele says we need to get over ourselves
