For those of you who thought a selfie was the local name for the Atlantic Seal its not! What is occupying young peoples attention on their cell phones is themselves! Or rather a picture of themselves which they judge to be sufficiently attractive to merit posting on a social network.

Never since Narcissus the hunter, who was famous for his good looks, caught sight of his own reflection in a pool and fell in love with it have we had such widespread fascination with the human form. Of course legend has it that Narcissus loved not wisely but too well and fell into the pool and drowned!

It must be said that the main purpose of the selfie would appear to be to impress those who view the image rather that have its creator spellbound by it. In the contest for recognition in a world where image is all, the more attention grabbing, the more likely the picture will receive the accolade of “like” from the fans.

It is little wonder in such competitive circumstances that pictures would become progressively more daring till we had publicity hungry film stars “accidentally” launching photos of themselves in the nip. The ensuing publicity was prolonged by fruitless requests to the service provider to take down the offending image.

But if we are honest we are all affected to a greater or lesser extent by this Narcissus business. Who of us can resist looking into a shop window which reflects our image? The fascination does not lessen with age! Solomon put his finger on our latent pride when he said, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (Ecclesiastes Chapter 1). In fact of the four “prides” (Grace, Place & Race) Pride of Face” is the most troublesome.

Isaiah, referring to Jesus, says there was “nothing in his appearance that we should desire him”. In fact the narrative goes out of its way to emphasise at the end of his life on earth the gruesomeness of his features “His appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man” (Isaiah Chapters 52/53).

It wasn’t his form but his words that attracted people to him. Because of his death and resurrection he alone can offer us pride bound creatures the deliverance we need if we will but turn from the Selfie and look to Him the risen reigning Lord and commit our lives to him.