David Brooks

David Brooks, a syndicated columnist for the New York Times, recently wrote an article addressing the situation faced by this year’s college graduates. He writes, “Today’s grads enter a cultural climate that preaches the self as the center of a life…Most of us are egotistical and self-concerned most of the time, but it’s nonetheless true that life comes to a point only in those moments when the self dissolves into some task. The purpose in life is not to find yourself. It’s to lose yourself.”

Jesus was more specific when he addressed this subject. “Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34).

The goal should not be to find yourself, but to lose yourself. And the reason we must lose ourselves is so that we can truly follow Jesus.