One of the greatest challenges American teens face today, is the task of trying to answer a single, seemingly very crucial question. This one question has become so important, and so essential to a teen's life and social acceptance, that sometimes culture even tries answer it for them, often with heartbreaking results. It is the simple, difficult, always over-simplified question, "What is special about me?"
In today's highly individualistic American society, the value of a single individual is touted above all others. To find an example of this, simply look at Hollywood. Every movie and tv show out there features one or two main characters, and they are usually people who are the best at something. Either by accident, by nature, or in very rare cases by experience, the heroins in today's media all have one thing in common: whether they realize it or not, they are special. Something about them sets them apart from the crowd, and makes them valuable in at least one major aspect of their lives. Often in the stories, it begins as social awkwardness, and transforms into something beneficial. This concept is intoxicating to the teenage ego, and almost impossible to resist pursuing. After all, not only does the idea of being special stroke a person's pride, it also gives them a sense of justification for the way they are. If, by some turn of fortune, their flaws aren't really flaws, then life becomes suddenly easier, and more tolerable.
The desire to emulate this, and receive the same kind of respect and acceptance as the television characters do is extremely enticing to young adults and teenagers. As humanity is often prone to doing, they begin to identify with that which they idolize. But what happens when the majority starts identifying with the uncommon, and thereby trying to imitate them? What happens when every one believes they are one-in-a-million, and have no need for continued personal growth? Well suddenly, everybody begins to think and act like they are special just the way they are, and we are back to where we started, except worse. Now, nobody but the unbalanced, over driven few can ever separate themselves from the pack, and those that used to be considered average are left in the dust as the outcasts. Out of a desire to still be accepted and to feel valuable, even they try to justify their status as "special" outcasts — believing to be cast off for their truly superior nature, which the rest of the culture simply can't understand. Ultimately though, nobody really feels special, and nobody improves.
The other problem is, since all of the characters on tv somehow either stumbled into their incredible skills, or were born with them only end up suddenly achieving greatness one day, the concept of earning your specialty is all but lost. Examples are not hard to find; Peter Parker goes from zero to hero over night (The Amazing Spider Man), a girl is born mysteriously possessing natural skill in every type of culturally acceptable vocation (Divergent), A princess is born with power over ice which she hides up until the moment she decides to "let it go" and become the powerful, self assured queen she was always destined to be (Frozen), and the list goes on. Teens are fed stories of people with extraordinary "specialness," and told by well intended teachers, preachers, motivational speakers, and parents that they have something special too, and they eat it up. Nobody is told that they aren't special until they earn it.
Before leaving the subject of motivation however, let me broach another aspect of the issue. I do not think pride is the only motivation behind this push for everybody to find their "specialness." In fact, I think there is an even deeper issue than pride behind much of it, and that's the problem of insecurity. Go look at facebook for for teen minutes, and see how many posts you find that sound anything like this: "Find Out What Your Eye Color Means About Your Personality" or, "Which Disney Princess Are You?" or especially, "Find Out if You're an Introvert, Extrovert, or Ambivert." All of these questionnaires are harmless in and of themselves, but their staggering popularity has had me wondering about the root issue behind them.
Ultimately, I think it boils down to a lack of identity. I think it's a bunch of people who really don't know how to be authentic, and are looking for either instructions on how to act, or justification for their current personality. They're looking for something that can tell them it's ok to be the way that they are, and there's an explanation behind their personalities. It's the same thing behind their idolizing of characters in popular media, they're seeking validation. Essentially, it comes back to a person's desire to be different from what they perceive as average, and to feel that they are special.
Unfortunately, this system breaks down in a few areas. To begin with, all of humanity's purpose, every single individual's chief end, is to glorify God. If you are one of the few blessed with a special talent, it's because you were meant to glorify God with it. If you are not possessing of any talent which fits into the realm of socially, morally, and scripturally acceptable talents, then perhaps you were meant to glorify God in a more direct method. I mean simply by praising him with your heart, soul, voice, life, actions, and whatever else you can muster. In fact, it's not really such a foreign concept, scripturally speaking, to think that glorifying God might not at any point actually bring any glory to us. If you have a special talent, then that's great! Use it for Him. But if not, you aren't entitled to one, and you certainly don't need one to fulfill your intended purpose. Ultimately, it's not about us, it's about Him.
But that's not all there is to it. In fact, if you want to be really hardline with it, you could almost say that anytime we humans receive glory in the process of glorifying God, we are doing it wrong. I'm not saying God will not glorify us one day for faithful service simply out of the generosity of His incredible heart, and I'm not saying He can't be glorified through us, but I am saying that we are not deserving of a single ounce of human praise for ourselves. God, on the other hand, deserves it all. When we take some of that from Him, we are steeling what doesn't belong to us. Not only that, but when we give glory to others which rightfully belongs to God, we are committing a sin called "idolatry." Idolatry is defined as worshipping anything that is not God, and worship is defined as a profound love or admiration for, or showing extreme devotion to, a person, place, thing or deity. Therefore to show profound admiration (beyond healthy respect) to something other than God is idolatry, plain, uncomfortable, and simple.
I'm not saying it's wrong to be special, to have talents, and to pursue excellence. What I am saying, is that God is not looking for special people who want to be admired. He's looking for people who have a special desire to glorify Him. It's ok to stand out, just make sure it's for the right reasons. And most importantly, know that your identity in Christ has nothing to do with your skills and talents, but it has everything to do with your love of the One True Living God. Do not simply subscribe to the age-old proverb, "know thyself," as if it is something you may do on your own. Rather, begin by knowing thy Creator, then through Him come to know thy purpose, and finally by these things know thyself.
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