Not that many decades ago that most professing Christians had not connected to the Internet. Now, there are millions of them with FB pages, Twitter, TikTok, and blogs. They are a way for individuals to be recognized that would have slipped through life only noticed by a few local people. It is not a bad thing to be popular if the purpose is to minister or stay in contact with family and friends. The problem is when people become obsessed with being famous. Each day begins a quest for “likes” and “shares.” It has led to plagiarism by some individuals. I know of several that steal the intellectual work of someone and post it as their own words. I confronted one individual repeatedly for copying my articles and reposting them as his work. He became very popular until he passed away. Plagiarism is lying. It is, by all definition, deception. The only motivation for plagiarizing is to build up oneself to be something they are not. It is all about “likes,” “shares,” and popularity. Popularity has a very short lifespan on the Internet. It requires an obsessive stream of posts to receive a tiny glow of the spotlight. Competing for who will be God’s most popular spokesperson is religious silliness.
What if the Holy Spirit told you to back off, stop posting, and spend your time listening to and obeying God? Once the stream of posts ceased, it won’t be easy to get back to the same popularity. Who will risk that “demotion?”
All lovers and followers of Christ should periodically step back from posting. If withdrawal symptoms occur, they know they were in too deep and for the wrong reasons.
Popularity should never be one’s goal. Self-esteem that needs notoriety and approval is detrimental to faith in and obedience to God. Our work only matters if we obey God. Whether we minister to thousands or cross a desert to witness to one soul, God’s will must be our motive. If intimacy and devotion to God’s perfect will are not the foundation of everything we do, what we do will never fulfill us. Eventually, God’s faithful Remnant will recognize the lack of anointing and shy away.
Christ told his disciples to come apart and rest. Sometimes, we need to come apart and cleanse our spiritual system of any seed of pride, competition, envy, lust for accolades, and any other thing that is a stench in God’s nostrils.
Vance Havner once said, “We have to come apart before we come apart.” Life in spiritual shambles from drifting off course becomes more susceptible to the enemy’s wiles. Nothing sets us back on the path like shutting out all needless bother and communing with God.
Good word!