Youth Devotional

Popularity


Popularity seems like such a great thing! Being loved and admired by people sounds so wonderful. However, is popularity all that it is hyped up to be? Should popularity really be one of our goals in life? Let’s see what Scripture says about this topic.
What does the Bible say?

Notice what can happen when we crave popularity:
I Sam. 18:7-9 – We can become very jealous of other people.
Acts 12:1-4 – It can cause us to do things we should not do.
John 12:42-43 – We will live to please people more than God.
Where should our focus be?

Gal. 1:10 – Our focus should be on doing what God wants.
The truth about popularity:
Acts 4:18-20 – Doing what God wants is not always popular.
 Compare Mark 11:9-10 with Mark 15:12-13 – People may
love you one day/hate you the next, as even Jesus experienced.


What should I do?
The goal of trying to become popular is not something we as believers should live for. The endless pursuit of trying to win over people’s love is not what God has called us to do. Rather, our attention must be on pleasing God with our lives. If, while living for God, He allows us to become popular, so be it. Our popularity can be used to further shine for His glory. But if popularity does not come our way, then there is no loss. As long as we are pleasing God with our lives, what else really matters? May we live in a way that makes every effort to draw people’s attention toward Christ, not ourselves!