More from Francis Chan: https://crazylovebook.com/
When I was in school, I always hated group projects. I’m the type of person who would much rather do a school project on my own than work together with other people. For one thing, it’s terribly inconvenient. You have to find a place to meet, coordinate schedules, and together decide how you’re going to tackle the project. And then there’s the reality that group work is often inefficient. When I’m working alone, I can seclude myself and work at my own pace until the project is done. In group work, on the other hand, there are always distractions, and I can’t choose the pace because not everyone works the same way. And we all know those people who don’t do their share of the work. Group work can be unbelievably frustrating.
I have sometimes portrayed this desire to work alone in positive terms. I would describe myself as a perfectionist or explain that I just really want to be productive. Sometimes I would even claim that I didn’t want to put the work on other people—as if my individualism was focused on serving others. But when it really comes down to it, my desire to work alone is all about self-reliance. Relying on other people can be messy, and the job doesn’t always get done according to my expectations. When I rely on myself, I set the terms and determine the outcome—or so I think.
This type of individualism is almost universal among Westerners. We’re raised with the mind-set that we create our own identities and shape our own destinies. We’re taught to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps. If you believe it, you can achieve it—even if the whole world tries to stand in your way.
I’m always amazed at how naturally the values and assumptions of our culture creep into our Christianity. Growing up, I was told that the most important thing was my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He is my personal Lord and Savior. My devotional life always consisted of getting away from everyone else and focusing on “me and God.”
Now, I want to be quick to say that these things aren’t bad. My personal relationship with Jesus is vitally important, He is my personal Savior, and I still believe that it’s important to spend time alone with God. But for most of my Christian life, the emphasis was on me as an individual. I rarely considered the fact that I was a part of something big- ger than myself, that I was a part of the people of God, or that my faith ought to be tied to the faith of the Christians around me. Basically, my spiritual life was very individualistic, very self-reliant. Ironically, I know that I’m not alone in my individualism.