No Selfie Zone

My dad was 69 years old at the time and he took a selfie and posted it on social media. When my oldest daughter and niece—both 14 years old at the time—discovered it they giggled hysterically. And, not because they thought Grandad was embarrassing. No, the opposite was true. They loved it and giggled with glee!

Taking selfies is a normal part of our kids’ and grandkids’ lives. It is a part of how they express themselves and mold their “public image”. The selfie obsession might’ve started with teens, but it has spread with abandon.

It was reported that in 2015 India had more selfie-related deaths than anywhere else in the world. Earlier this month, as that story was making the rounds through the news cycle, there was another tragedy. Nikhil Prajapat visited the Mehrangarh Fort in the city of Jodhpur with a group of friends. As the 23 year old posed for a share-worthy selfie with this magnificent fort as his background, he lost his balance and fell. His friends rushed to his side, but it was too late. The fall was fatal. Sadly, he was the sixth person to die in a selfie-related accident in India in 2016. In response to an incident in their city, Mumbai Police identified “no selfie zones”.

Selfie-related accidents are not unique to India, and although the particular nature of the fatalities is a recent problem, our human problem with self is both global and timeless.

There is an account in 2 Chronicles (also shared in 2 Kings) that has never quite made sense to me. More specifically, the actions of King Amaziah, are what have confused me. Amaziah began his reign as King of Judah at the age of 25. Not unlike other Kings in this time, he rose to power following the death murder of his father. Amaziah established his place and his power in the kingdom and then avenged his father’s death. He executed the officials who killed his father, and, surprisingly, stopped there. Unlike his ancestors, he spared the children of the assassins—an act that followed the counsel of Scripture. (Deut. 24:16)

Amaziah began his 29 year reign with this act of mercy, and is described this way:

“And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a loyal heart.” - 2 Chronicles 25:2

Amaziah’s heart was not wholly dedicated to the Lord. His later actions shine a spotlight on this hidden part of the ruler.

Amaziah conducted a census, and after assessing his strength, gathered his army of 300,000 men and marched them into the Valley of Salt to fight the Edomites.

“Then Amaziah strengthened himself, and leading his people, he went to the Valley of Salt and killed ten thousand of the people of Seir. Also the children of Judah took captive ten thousand alive, brought them to the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, so that they all were dashed in pieces.” - 2 Chronicles 25:11-12

The armies of Judah slaughtered the Edomites and returned home with mementos of their war victory.  Among the treasures Amaziah brought back were idols. He set these idols up and worshipped them.

“Now it was so, after Amaziah came from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the people of Seir, set them up to be his gods, and bowed down before them and burned incense to them.” - 2 Chronicles 25:14

Amaziah set up the idols of the people he had just conquered and worshipped the non-breathing, finite, man-carved, idols. This is the part of his story that has never made sense to me.  Nowhere else in Scripture do we read of a conquering King worshipping the gods of the people he has just overcome! It just doesn’t make sense, and we read, that it angered God.

“Therefore the anger of the LORD was aroused against Amaziah, and He sent him a prophet who said to him, "Why have you sought the gods of the people, which could not rescue their own people from your hand?" So it was, as he talked with him, that the king said to him, "Have we made you the king's counselor? Cease! Why should you be killed?" Then the prophet ceased, and said, "I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not heeded my advice."” - 2 Chronicles 25:15-16

And there is the answer and the crux of Amaziah’s issue—his heart is not loyal, it is still committed first to self.

Amaziah spurns the counsel of God’s messenger and as the unnamed prophet of God predicts, he eventually suffers a humiliating defeat at the hands of King Jehoash of Israel.

Our obsession with our selves, with our own self-interests, has been with us since the beginning of time. The current obsession with taking pictures of ourselves is hardly new, just an extension of what has always been true. I imagine that if Amaziah had a smartphone in his robe pocket he would’ve taken a selfie as the Edomites plunged off of the cliff behind him.

And not every selfie is an expression of self-absorption. Sometimes a selfie is just a picture—a way to remember an event, a moment or a person—nothing more.

As my daughters, nieces and nephews routinely take 891 selfies just to get that one perfect share-worthy image, I am no different. Their generation’s symptoms of the problem of self are different from mine, but I am absolutely a carrier. Just as it was for Paul, dying to self is a daily battle, but one worth fighting.

“I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.” - 1 Corinthians 15:31