Enslaved to Performance
Psychologist Dr Richard leahy says ‘the average high school kid today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the 1950s’. The social climate we have all been born into says we must do more, do better, do it now, work harder and now we must be working smarter. We have things to accomplish and people to please. Episcopal Priest Robert Capon believes the root cause of the exhaustion we are feeling is that ‘the greatest temptation in life is to think that is by further better and more aggressive living that we can find life.’ Tulian Tchividjian says ‘every single human being is trying to save themselves -we have self salvation projects. We are addicted to performancism a mindset which equates our identity and value directly to our perfomance. In ‘performancism’ (no such word) success is life and failure is death.’ So what is causing your fear? Are you enslaved to performance. The gospel says because Jesus was someone, I am free to be no one. As we try to earn respect and spend our time making a name for ourselves, we spend our lives desperately searching for something we already possess. Invite someone to take a closer look at Christ and his church.
