Narcissa’s Camera

Timothy Dalrymple on the need to consider our motives when becoming “radical” disciples for Christ :

Since I was planning on writing this series, I mentioned my concern that some people (including myself) might pursue radical Christian living for the benefit of what I’ll call Narcissa’s Camera. What I mean is this: we sometimes find ourselves going about our lives and seeing the world through our own eyes, but simultaneously observing ourselves from the outside as it might be perceived or told by someone else. So here I am feeding the homeless on Skid Row, but even while I’m working with the homeless I’m also observing myself, and approving of myself, working with the homeless. A part of me is conscious of others and their needs, and a part of me is watching myself on video and admiring how I look. I’m watching myself through a camera that hovers somewhere over my shoulder, and ultimately I’m hoping that others will, someday and somehow, see the instant replay.

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Foster also spoke of Mother Teresa, who did not set out to be radical but to follow Jesus and serve Jesus in the least of these. She disappeared from history for decades, and God eventually raised her up. She had no desire to be known; in fact, it seems she would have preferred anonymity. But, Foster said, “There are ten thousand Mother Teresas we’ve never heard of, men and women who continue to be obscure and do their work in secret — and that’s okay with them. If you’re truly radical, you’re not concerned that anybody sees you.”

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