Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life.

In the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Jeff Parrott.

Main character energy.

There's a good chance that at some point today, or at various points throughout the day,

whether you realize it or not,

you're going to experience that kind of energy. Over the past several years, people have both

celebrated and lamented the proliferation of main character energy all over social media.

Main character energy describes the common tendency for people everywhere to see

themselves as the main character on their own hit show or movie of their lives. With the most

charitable use of the term, main character energy is a descriptor of unique self-confidence

and assuredness. Yet the other common use of the phrase

illuminates the excesses of self-confidence and self-reliance, a kind of main character energy

that focuses so much on the self that it makes no room for others. And here's the subtle yet

scary tendency hidden within all of us.

Main character energy can quickly and easily devolve into what people refer to as

main character syndrome. And while it's not an official medical condition, the terminology

main character syndrome recognizes the temptation tugging on the heart

of humanity. We all tend to see ourselves as main characters, and we thereby push others,

even God, to the periphery of our life stories. And in that way, main character syndrome leaves

us more isolated and more hungry for connection

to something or someone bigger than our lives.

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