Tied Up Through Shyness and Self-Consciousness

E. Stanley Jones was a missionary, a theologian, and a prolific writer. He wrote the following in his devotional book Victorious Living about how self-consciousness can interfere with the flow of life in Christ:

"The spiritual life should be contagious. It should be winsome and winning. But many find it impossible to share their inner lives with others because of shyness and self-consciousness. I put these two things together, for shyness is a species of self-consciousness. When it ties up the inner life and inhibits us from being natural as Christians, it must be looked on as bondage, as sin.

"For shyness and self-consciousness mean that when an issue is raised, we refer it to ourselves--there is the constant state of self-reference, in other words, of self-centeredness. This is a hard saying, but it must be said. We must look on shyness and self-consciousness as bondage from which we are to find deliverance.

"For it is bondage. The speaker who becomes conscious of himself and of what he is saying will probably stumble and lack grip on his audiences. Only as he forgets himself, becomes lost in his message, will his words come with power and effect. I have often said to an interpreter: 'Lose yourself in the message--don't become word-conscious, or self-conscious, and the words will flow.' Self-consciousness ties up the flow of thoughts and words. It is profoundly true in speaking that he who saveth his life by thinking about it shall lose it, and he that loseth it shall find it.

"I was once introduced by the principal of a Hindu college thus: 'Now, students pay close attention to his gestures.' I could have thrown a book at him! It was a full five minutes before I could forget that introduction and get lost in my message. When the center of life is shifted from oneself to Christ, this bondage of shyness drops away. Instead of a constant self-reference there is a constant Christ-reference. Instead of asking, 'How will this affect me?' the question will be, How will this affect Christ and His Kingdom? We are then delivered from these inner cords. The taproot goes into God."