Being Popular
If you want to be popular, draw a crowd, or have a lot of people like you, is it all about pleasing them and not you?
I know the first thing going through most people’s minds right now is…”be yourself” “be authentic” that will draw people in. Will it?
‘Pleasing others’ sounds fake, but what about ‘serving others’? Denying yourself.
Popular sounds like a flimsy word to most adults. We think of high school and not being popular, not liking that, therefore trashing the word.
Maybe successful or appealing is a better word.
Think about packed out restaurants, best selling movies, sports teams with packed arenas, full churches, popular political candidates…
Who is it about?
random thoughts going through my head today…
=robin
Posted on April 29, 2008, in Church Business, Daily Word, politics, Random Mumbling. Bookmark the permalink. 6 Comments.
Robin Steele 
those of you interested in the dialog, maybe we should differentiate between “pleasing others” and “serving others”.
Everybody wants to feel like they have worth. Therefore to draw others to you, you need to have a genuine concern for their welfare and be able to express your interest. You should be humorous, self confident, and knowledgeable, but never braggadocios. When these attributes become who you are, your spoken words will match your body language and most everyone will be drawn to you because you are in fact genuine, and they can trust you.
However, sometime a person can be genuine, but be genuinely wrong. In spite of being known as the most liberal Senator in Congress, Barack Obama has won over a large segment of the voters because he has been very good at portraying the image of a genuinely concerned leader who is not a part of the typical Washington establishment. Whether he can sustain this image remains to be seen.
Serving others may not mean pleasing them. Serving them may mean looking beyond what is comfortable for them and doing what is best for them. You serve your children and they love you but they may not always be pleased with you.
Pleasing others attracts users (people who just use others).
Serving is something different.
Jesus said if you want to draw people to Him, then lift Him up. He didn’t say you have to please them, humor them, entertain them….just lift Him up.
I totally agree with Rob’s statement about people needing to feel like they have worth. I once read somewhere that the true mark of a gentleman is that he puts everyone around him at ease, and makes them feel welcome and comfortable.
I think this ties in with what Rob said about having genuine concern and interest for them. We’ve all met those people that make you feel genuinely important to them…I think that’s probably what Jesus was like. I also think that’s why He draws all men…you just enjoy being around people like that, you know?
As far as how this applies to the church…I think we run into problems when we swing too far one way or the other. For example, Jesus said “let the dead bury the dead”…but He also cared enough about people, the human, natural side of people, to feed the 5,000… To steal a quote from John Ragsdale, it all comes down to Heaven & Earth. I think a lot of places have Earth taken care of…and so they draw a crowd that doesn’t stay; they end up leaving looking for something more. I also think there are places that have lots of Heaven, but they don’t draw a crowd because they don’t know how to relate to the “earth” side of people. I think we have to address both if we are going to be “popular” or “appealing”…
My mind goes to my job when I think about your subject today and I immediately think of customer service. Putting the customer first. Making them feel like the most important person that walked in the door today. What is their need, how can I help them? How can I make their experience at our dealership the best it can be so they will want to come back? When I apply these thoughts to personal relationships with visitors and other church members I realize I fall short and there is a lot of room to improve. Laddie
It is obviously an amazing feat to serve and please all, noted in the fact of even the best dining establishments fail to achieve this. However it is these prestigious establishments that you will find something different than your everyday “restaurant”. Or more so I should phrase it, that it is what you will not find there. You will not find conformity, and most certainly not mediocrity. These establishments have reached the level they have, call it popularity if you will, because they have tapped into authenticity in their culinary art. They have found a way to “fill” someone in more than just a gestational matter. The entire experience has become a orchestration of the satisfaction of the senses.
Taking it to the level I always do, and often feel silly for, if you correlate this to church we must maintain this authenticity in the Spirit. We have no other option really. You see we are flesh, and of flesh we can speak to flesh, we can serve flesh, and be “popular” to and in the flesh, yet we will never “fill” the thirst of the spirit. This filling can only be brought forth by Spirit. We must walk, flow, and move only in the Spirit. This is our mandate from Christ. When we jump into the flow per say, we allow the Spirit to touch the senses of hardened hearts, and blemished minds. Through Christ we go where no man can go. We abide in His grace alone. We must serve the entire experience. The experience of being in the presence of the Most High God. This is who, or whom “it” is about.