It is no coincidence that we live in a world that is obsessed with being called by the right personal pronouns. The world has become selfish and self-oriented in ways that few of us saw coming.
I don’t know exactly when it happened, but one day, it seemed the whole world went bat crap crazy and decided we could identify as any gender we wanted, so people started making up weird junk. Today, on many applications, your choices for “sex” or “gender” include more options than the classic “binary” male or female options, despite what Mark 10:6 says.
The “no coincidence” part I referred to earlier is the fact that the affirmation industry is huge and is built on an obsession with self. Since affirmations revolve mainly around ourselves, we need a pronoun that refers to ME.
The most important personal pronoun
That pronoun is, of course, “I” as in “I am” or “I will” or “I feel” or “I” joined to any number of other verbs.
It reminds me of a radio station I heard many years ago, “All Elvis, all the time!” Yes, indeed, that station played nothing but Elvis Presley music, 24/7/365.
Now there’s nothing wrong with the personal pronoun “I” or saying things that lets your wants and needs be known. But like the old Elvis radio station, some folks are stuck on the “I” radio station that plays nothing but “I, me, and my” music 24 hours a day.
No matter how much you might like Elvis, do you really want to hear his songs all the time? By the same token, do you really need to make everything about you? If you know someone who has a knack for taking any and every conversation and making it about themselves, you know what I mean. It’s a pathological addiction to self.
A Christian view of “I”
Even Christians tend to be selfish. We get more defensive and upset when someone speaks evil about us, than when they speak evil about God.
When was the last time you allowed someone to call you or a family member a cuss word? Would you tolerate that? Yet, what did you do the last time you watched a movie where an actor used the “gd” cuss word? Did you turn the movie off? Did you feel at all jealous for the name of the Lord, or did the profanity just go right over your head?
It’s easy to get caught up in what we need, what we want, and with us being short-sighted and temporal, we miss out on the long-game and the better things.
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Jesus, to a crowd, Sermon on the Mount – Matthew 6:33
There are thousands of affirmations, most of them similar to the ones you are probably familiar with. Sometime when you have nothing better to do, go online and look at affirmations lists and note how many of them are about self and how so few focus on others.
I think you’ll see how I and me focused they really are.