Jesus was right all along. We are most ourselves when we’re thinking least about ourselves. It reminds me of Paul’s rant in Romans 7, when he talks about how he wants to do one thing but then does another, and you can just hear his frustration with himself. That passage has brought me such comfort merely through commiseration. But it’s really a passage about self-consciousness. At the end he asks, “Who will save me from this body of death?” (v. 24). And his answer is almost a sigh of relief: “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (v. 25). Self, self, self—then Christ, Christ,
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