The desire to be popular

March 11, 2019

Rev. Jason Gaskin

There is a new show called "Tidying Up" on Netflix. Marie Kondo goes into people's homes and helps them declutter their things and more importantly their life. This show was to close to home for me. I expected more of a show like "Hoarders", which was a guilty pleasure. I could watch Hoarders and be confident that I am not one. But I couldn't say the same after watching Tidying Up. I started looking in the drawers in our home. Clutter, clutter, clutter... and more clutter. Doing this made me stressed out and I had a decision to make. Shut the drawer and act like I never looked in it. Yet this show teaches us that the clutter isn't just a bunch of stuff in a drawer. It actually can cause a lot of dysfunction in our lives and relationships. Part of what we will be doing these next few weeks in Lent is opening those metaphorical drawers. Looking in them... and asking ourselves why we continue to carry things with us that have no value to our lives and actually weigh us down. We don't spend a lot of time talking about popularity. Maybe this word is thrown more around by high school students. But it is something we ALL struggle with. It is that thing in our drawers that is alllllllll the way in the back that is covered with ink and crumbs. We look at it. And shut the drawer. Instead of doing that... we are going to call it out. When the devil tempted Jesus in the desert he went after his identity. If Jesus was really God then why was he in a desert, starving? Why doesn't he turn a stone into bread? Why get your identity from God when you could get it from something else? Popularity is about identity and about people liking us. And relying on that acceptance. Many of us, even in the name of Jesus, will spend our lives trying to prove ourselves worthy of love. We will do this by the constant pursuit of success, accolades, praise, bonuses, etc,. Or we do it by seeking power and influence in our own circles looking for someone to bow down to our voices. From the very beginning of our lives, even before we were born, God has loved us. He never said we had to prove ourselves. He never said that we had to be successful. God's love was and is steadfast. Can we part with this thing called popularity once and for all? Many of us will give something up for Lent. Don't do it because everyone else is doing it. Do it because there is something greater at stake. Do it so that you might draw near to Jesus.