Vanity of Vanities
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
What does man gain by all the toil
at which he toils under the sun? (Ecclesiastes 1:2)
The year I graduated from college, the movie, Seven, came out. My friend and I went to see it one night when Jeff went to play cards with some friends. The movie follows two detectives trying to find a serial killer who kills his victims by one of the seven deadly sins that he feels they personify. This is the only movie that I have ever wanted to walk out of. It was that disturbing and horrifying. I am not endorsing it. One twist of this serial killer is that he did not technically kill any of his victims, he let them die by their own poison so to speak. The victim for the sin of vanity, a supermodel, died by suicide instead of calling for help after she had been disfigured. I bring this up because most of us would look at this model and scoff at her decision (I know that I did) and believe that we ourselves are free from such vanity. In the past several years I have been prideful enough to believe that I wasn’t that vain. Ha! I wish that I could have seen the look on my face when I read Fr. Mike Schmitz’s definition in his book, Unshakeable.
“Vanity is a disordered attachment to the approval of others. If vanity is my root sin, I need praise and seek fulfillment in being appreciated by others.”
Vanity of vanities, it turns out I have a bit of a problem with vanity. The more you know. See, the devil likes to keep us in the dark. When we can’t properly identify these poisonous roots, the roots remain. Holy Spirit first drew my attention to this root sin almost five years ago through my friend Meg. Meg and I were working together at St. Bernard and we were, in honesty, bemoaning that certain people didn’t appreciate what we were doing. Meg informed me that we should probably be praying the Litany of Humility. I was, up to this point, uninitiated to this prayer and Meg quickly printed me a copy. Vanity of vanities. I won’t recite the whole litany here, but I will give you a taste…
Jesus, meek and humble of heart, hear me. From the desire of being esteemed, Deliver me Jesus. From the desire of being loved, Deliver me, Jesus. From the desire of being honored…praised…preferred…consulted…approved, Deliver me, Jesus.
I quickly read through the prayer and if I had to guess, the expression on my face was similar to the one while I read Fr. Mike’s definition of vanity, for good reason. I did not want to pray this prayer, seriously. These things (honor, esteem, approval, being consulted…), these things were important to me, I held these things in my heart! What was wrong with them? The very first time I ever prayed that prayer (not just read it), I got down on my knees. It made me weak because I couldn’t imagine how letting go of these things that I held dear could ever make me more fulfilled. The Holy Spirit used Fr. Mike Schmitz’s definition to finally help me see from a vantage of Wisdom and Understanding. Vanity, the word itself, in Hebrew, means vapor or vanishing. The whole point of that chapter in Ecclesiastes is to recognize that the things of this earth that we covet, no matter how ‘good’ they may seem, are never lasting. So too the approval, honor, and praise of others. These things are fleeting and we are left constantly trying to maintain positions of honor in the eyes of others. We start to act as we think others desire, to speak, so as to please others. We become slaves. In the book of Samuel, God explains why vanity is not virtue.
God does not see as humans see. Humans look at outward appearances, but the Lord looks into the heart. (1 Samuel 16:7)
“Appearances” are more than skin deep. Our words and actions are also a part of the persona we present to the world. They do not always reflect the heart of who we are; when we do them for the approval of others, they actually only reflect who we want to be seen as. God is helping me to see that not only is the approval of others fleeting, it is also not necessarily a true reflection of me. It is not something I can rely upon to measure myself against. God is inviting me to let go of this deadly sin so that I can finally start to see myself in an entirely different reflection, that of Abba, Savior, and Spirit. God knows I’m not perfect. He still loves me unconditionally. He still “delights” in me. My first lesson from the book Unshakeable is my first step toward breaking the chains of vanity. Practicing the daily discipline of the “one thing” will place me in a position of saying or doing for God, not others. And God’s “one thing” will never ask me to do something that contradicts who He wants me to be. I’m going to wrap up this reflection with an irony of ironies. You might have asked yourself, “Why didn’t you walk out of the movie if it was that disturbing?” I didn’t walk out because I thought my friend would think less of me for leaving. Vanity of vanities indeed!
