“Wow, she is a beauty. Stunning even. And, she’s Italian. Lookin’ very good Dave!”
‘She’, was a 1968 850 fiat Spider convertible sports car – my first car. I bought her for $100 from my youth leader when I was 15. Her name was Brigid, named after the Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida. She was all rusted out and her engine was in dire need of a rebuild, but her leather interior was beautiful.
It was love at first site. I bought her and all the extra parts that came with her.
She was a project car that required countless hours to see her transformed from a rusted out, multi-colored body panelled, barely running piece of junk into the gorgeous exotic sports car I knew she could be. And so, for months on end, I tirelessly worked to make her into the beauty that I wanted to be seen in, and the car that would represent the kind of young man I wanted to be – bold, distinct, exotic, rare, cool, attractive and very popular.
When I was finished she looked incredible. Her rusted body had all been fixed, sculpted and then painted a deep, rich burgundy with white racing stripes running along the bottom of the doors from the front wheel well to the rear wheel well. A chrome and black bumper strip ran the length of her sidelines, a tinted sticker with the word “FIAT” ran the width of the windshield, and her chrome bumpers shone brightly from hours of buffing and polishing. My favourite part was the leather gear shift knob with the ceramic FIAT logo on the top.
Wow, she was stunning! She looked good and so did I when I was driving her. When I drove her she shouted, “Look at me!” And the girls did. I loved it. The only problem was, I didn’t get to enjoy the copious amounts of attention and adulation for long – Brigid’s frame was rusted out and I had to junk her. Yup, she was a beauty, but she was rotten on the inside.
This little story is an illustration of a powerful issue that can cripple us and lead to our spiritual demise. I call it the ‘Look at Me’ syndrome. It’s that need for attention and recognition. It’s the need to be noticed and affirmed. It’s the need for people to know what you do; your significance and importance. It’s the need to look good.
I am very aware of this syndrome, because I had a bad case of it – and still have to fight it.
The ‘Look at Me’ syndrome is based in insecurity and causes us to desire and seek out our own glory. We want attention.
However, God tells us that He will not share His glory with anyone. When we seek out our own glory and not God’s glory we miss His heart and become trapped in pride and the fear of man. Our pride will separate us from the grace of God, and the fear of man will keep us from obeying God because we are more concerned about what men think than what God thinks.
Ultimately God loves us enough to not leave us in this state. He will begin to lovingly and relentlessly humble us and affirm His love for us as beloved sons. The only cure for the ‘Look at Me’ Syndrome is to choose humility and surrender to God, and shift our value and worth from the things of this word and the words of man to a deep core belief that our value and worth is only found in our sonship – the truth of who’s we are as God’s son.
Man or God, who do we love? Praises from men or our Father above? Vanity, will it be our delight, or can God’s love be our song in the night?
We must be about God’s glory, not our own. We must build God’s kingdom, not ours. If we are to walk wholeheartedly in the purposes of God we must repent from our need to be noticed, our ‘Look at Me’ Syndrome, and receive our Father’s love for us as a son in whom He delights.
Our “Look at Me” needs to shift into I “Look to Thee”.
Luke 16:15
“He said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight.'”
I Samuel 16:7
“…The Lords does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
John 7:18
“Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.”