OBSESSIONS

1 Kings 20:1-21:29; Acts 12:24-13:15; Psalm 137:1-9; Proverbs 17:16

“A warrior putting on his sword for battle should not boast like a warrior who has already won.”

“The governor invited Barnabas and Saul to visit him, for he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas, the sorcerer (as his name means in Greek), interfered and urged the governor to pay no attention to what Barnabas and Saul said. He was trying to keep the governor from believing.”

“We put away our harps, hanging them on the branches of poplar trees. For our captors demanded a song from us. Our tormentors insisted on a joyful hymn….”

There is a time for boldness. Circumstances do sometimes cry out for a champion of vision and courage willing to stand in the gap and fill our desire for charismatic leadership. Those so gifted, however, need to hang onto their humility, because boldness is just a step away from arrogance. And arrogance is a potent seducer of common sense.

Tonight, I am watching a PBS special on the “king” of lobotomies, Dr. Walter Freeman. A man actually fond of the moniker “the Henry Ford of lobotomies,” Freeman allowed apparent initial success in calming certain violent patients fool him into thinking he was doing the human race an indispensible service. Sometimes doing over a dozen procedures a day, Freeman shamelessly promoted day surgery lobotomies until he was literally performing them any time and any place. On the street, he lobotomized an accused criminal who refused to submit peaceably to the police. One patient died when the icepick Freeman was using slipped while he was taking pictures of himself. As the medical community which had once been so supportive turned against him, Freeman redoubled his efforts. Only Thorazine saved numerous other patients from literally losing their minds. As the medication replaced the procedure, Freeman’s career began to crash. He recognized that losing the ability to lobotomize meant losing himself. So, he moved to California and began to market the process as a way of dealing with “unruly” children and depressed housewives. Over his lifetime, Freeman performed in excess of 29,000 lobotomies, including 19 children in California and one as young as four years old.

Obsession wears many faces. Mainly, though, obsession is the primary symptom of an empty soul. When we can no longer justify ourselves based on what we do, one response is just to do more of it. This explains why we literally lose ourselves in our work. It explains why we have less and less in common with our spouses. It also explains our de-socialization. We cannot function around others when we are obsessed with our own accomplishments – or any lack thereof.

Nothing on this earth is worth the loss of our souls or the destruction of others. Nothing in the world is worthy of any obsession which denies compassion and empathy. If we are destined or determined to be obsessed, let us be obsessed with Christ. In Him, we find something far greater than ourselves. In Him, we find acceptance and healing when the ol’ self image begins to tarnish. Before we just grasp at any opportunity to make ourselves feel better, we need to remember Christ is the Great Physician. Our efforts to heal ourselves, and our attempts to make something of ourselves, have little earthly longevity and no eternal consequence. It is only when we allow the Spirit to make something of us that we find we no longer need our obsessions. Indeed, as we allow the Spirit to fill us, we find our true selves.