Campaigns and Cover-ups.
Whether they are political, personal or commercial, campaigns usually
leave us with a sense of emptiness from lofty expectations that are never met.
After campaigns are over, we always seem to be asking, “What happened to those
promises!?” Political candidates never seem to live up to expectations of
voters, and are vilified for not becoming all that they campaigned themselves
to be. Commercial campaigns tend to oversell and under deliver. Cover-ups then
occur when we want to conduct damage control, limiting the negative perceptions
that follow as particular details are exposed.
Campaigns and Cover-ups sounds like it should have been the
name of a Fall Out Boy album from the summer of 2005, but sadly it’s a
description of the lengths that we will go to create or maintain a particular
identity or image. We are inundated each day with suggestions of what we should
look like, how we should act, who we should be with.
For those sports fans out there, this idea of a false
identity has been brought into the spotlight not once, but twice this week.
First, there has been the long-drawn-out story of Lance Armstrong, which,
finally this week, has resulted in his alleged admission of using
performance-enhancing drugs, which had enabled him to win 7 consecutive Tour de France
titles, establishing himself as arguably the best cyclist
in history. Then yesterday, Deadspin broke a story exposing the fabrications surrounding
MantiTe’o, Notre Dame’s Heisman-finalist inside linebacker. Details
are still being brought into the light, but it has been alleged that Te’o’s girlfriend,
whose supposed car crash and Leukemia-induced-death kindled the
emotions of Notre Dame fans and players all the way to the NCAA FBS national
championship, was totally fictional.
As more details emerge today from both cases, it will become
more evident as to the motives behind each scheme. Lance Armstrong seemed to
enjoy the success of dominating the cycling circuit, beating testicular cancer,
as well as the commercial success that followed. Manti Te’o has NFL talent, and
was a Heisman finalist. Both men seemed to be drawn to the idea of overcoming
adversity, using it as a springboard and mental edge over their opponents.
These adversities were all lies. We will still learn more about each story, so there is much we should not speculate about. But what is clear is that both of these men are broken, and built themselves up to please others, or themselves.
Campaigns and Cover-ups.
Sadly, this is also a description of bits and pieces of our
own lives. We conduct campaigns and complete cover-ups to project an image of
ourselves, or save ourselves from some sort of disgrace in the short-term.
These symptoms are part of the larger issue of a struggle with our identities.
We pretend to be who we are not. We think that the temporary pleasures and
comforts we receive through these false identities will somehow satisfy us.
This is idolatry. We build our lives on idols, and when exposed, the benefits
of these idols all crumble in our hands.
Even for those of us in Christ, we continue to believe lies,
and do not align ourselves with the identity that is given to us in Christ. As
I am reading through “Who
Do You Think You Are?” by Mark Driscoll, he reminds us that “…This world’s
most fundamental problem is that we don’t understand who we truly are –
children of God made in his image…” (page 20).
This can be a messy problem to work through. Mercifully, we
are not left with this mess, and the Lord is gracious in reminding us of our
identity as created beings that bear his image and character. Nowhere is the
theme of identity more prevalent than in Ephesians. Ephesians tells us who we
are in Christ.
For those of us in Christ, we can be sure that our
acceptance by God is not based on beating cancer, winning Tour de France
titles, winning national championships, Heisman trophy nominations, making
money, or being in a relationship. Our acceptance from others shouldn't be
based on any of those things either. It may sound like too much of a simple
truth, but our identities are found solely in Christ. Let us continue to know
Christ and his character more deeply, replacing the shifting foundations of our
idols with the solid bedrock of God’s revealed character through his word.
In a particular episode of Seinfeld, George Costanza tells
Jerry, as Jerry is trying to beat lie detector test to avoid admitting that he
enjoyed watching Melrose Place, that “It’s not a
lie, if you believe it.” Thankfully, this is not true. Let’s not tell
ourselves any more lies.
Let us not mask our identity for the sake of others or our
own temporary enjoyment, but instead find joy in what God has created us to do,
and who he has created us to be. In a world where we are suffocated with many
people telling us who we should be or what we should do, this is necessary to
repeat to ourselves. Let’s put aside our campaigns and cover-ups, and instead cover ourselves with God's revelation of who we are in him.
