I wrote an article for the Reformed Journal that intended to highlight a deep psychological insistence we have for greatness. The comments to the article show I potentially missed the mark. It did not start a conversation about what motivates us and our need for greatness. Instead, the article opened up an argument over what happened on January 6. Was it an insurrection or people standing up against a tyrannical government?

Even the headline (which I did not create but probably mistakenly agreed to) draws us into that debate. It plays against our anger toward each other though my own words in the article leave the question open. Still, people seem to have determined my position on the matter as what I was trying to get across. I leave the question open on purpose. I do so because it’s not the point.

Addiction to greatness and the role of shame

The issue I was trying to emphasize was our addiction to a greatness defined by shame and the world. I tried to emphasize our choice between that and a different type of greatness emphasizing self-sacrifice for others over self-preservation. In the article, I even confess the addiction my own heart has for becoming great again. I do this while I see in Christ a greatness focused on self-sacrifice for others I should really be pursuing.

What stands in my way? Shame. My need to feel important as TS Eliot warns. My need to win. My need to be bigger, faster, and stronger. My need to be right. My need to defend myself against my accusers. Rather you are a Christian or not, we can’t miss the greatness the person of Jesus Christ offered the world. He represents a similar challenge to our version of greatness today – 2000 years later. It’s an eerily similar story played out right in front of us.

Shame is the hidden driver behind our destructive decisions

Why did this discussion around our motives not come up more often in the comments? Because we always focus on what happened and not why something happened. We hide behind anger toward each other to avoid the real issue – that which resides in us.

Shame prefers to remain a hidden driver – it operates better when we are not aware it’s happening. Shame insists we attack and defend “positions” against “others” – something Walter Brueggemann calls the “crisis of the other”. We do this instead of looking into our own selves for the root issues around why we do what we do. I am an expert in all that shame demands because I have been its obedient servant most of my life.

Entering the battle with shame for control of our own choices

The challenge in front of all of us is to call this hidden motivator out from the shadows of our lives. Our goal is to begin to make decisions that are less destructive to ourselves and others. When we begin to get a handle on shame, we will see this pivot happening. We will see the needs and suffering of others begin to outweigh our own need for self-preservation.

Again, whether one is a Christian or not is irrelevant. Shame will insist we draw sides in this argument as well making some of us “good” while others “bad”. All that is relevant is the silent almost imperceptible pursuit of self-sacrificial giving. It’s a trait often exemplified only by a minority while the majority travel off to celebrate a victory for the greatness for which shame and our soul yearn. It seems this is as true inside as outside the church.

Jesus described this as the difference between the wide road and the narrow.

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