In the last week, I’ve seen more talk than usual about what’s right and wrong with the contemporary Church in America and the way we Americans worship…or don’t. Some of this may be in response to Donald Miller’s confession last week that he didn’t attend church regularly (see my response “Donald Miller and the Anti-Church“).  A quick pass through the Interwebs reveals more comments on Church worship and how it’s not right. I suspect some of that is in response to Miller too.

And if I go on Facebook, I read what’s wrong with our government. I read what’s wrong with entertainment. I read what’s wrong with kids today. I read what’s wrong with the elderly.

Well, maybe not so much that last one.

Nonetheless, there’s a whole lot of wrong out there.

My first thought is that each of us needs to drill this truth into our heads:

This life is not about me.

What if every person in the United States woke up tomorrow and said to himself or herself, This life is not about me ? And what if that thought echoed through our heads the entire day and affected everything we do?

I can’t help but think everything would be changed for the better. Maybe not overnight, but soon enough.

Human self-centeredness and pride is at the root of so much that is wrong in our country, government, schools, churches, and homes. Most of the egregious wrong that happens in the world is because someone, somewhere is looking out solely for number one. What’s in it for me? has replaced E Pluribus Unum as the motto of the United States of America. We just don’t want to admit it because it looks bad. And it looks bad because there is still that “thing” deep down inside us that considers looking out for number one wrong—whenever someone else lives that way.

Oh my.

The funny thing is, This life is not about me  is at the heart of the Christian faith. Imagine if Jesus had said to the Father, “Taking on the sins of the world and dying on a cross—you know, I’m not really into doing that.” Fact is, He didn’t want to do that. But He did it anyway.

By its very nature, the cross is hard to bear. No one said it wouldn’t be.

The cross hurts? No, it downright kills. But what spring from that death is life itself

That cross is at the heart of Christianity. There’s a cross for each person who follows Jesus. The cross epitomizes This life is not about me.

If we want to fix everything that is wrong with everything, we have to start at the cross. We pick it up daily and walk in its shadow.

There is no other solution.