Fame

“One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.” (Luke 6:12-16 NIV)

We live in a world where becoming famous is a worthwhile goal and many seek to achieve it.  Some want to be well known through a remarkable achievement, while others just want to achieve fame.  Millions upload videos to YouTube hoping theirs will be the next to go viral.  Tens of thousands line up for auditions for contest shows such as “The Voice” and “American Idol,” hoping this will lead to fame and fortune.  People join Twitter with dreams of getting millions of followers. 

These thoughts were spurred on by a recent discussion with a student.  We were talking about how success is defined in the Kingdom of God.  While the world defines success in terms of numbers and popularity, Kingdom success is defined by faithfulness to God.  If you are faithful, you are successful whether or not anyone takes notice.  Last year, this student was a small group leader and he had one student sign up for his group.  It would have been easy to tell him just to cancel the group because only one showed up.  Instead, we told him to meet with the guy weekly throughout the semester.  He was faithful in pouring his life into this student.  Instead of being viewed as a failure, we considered his “group” a success because he was faithful and the other student gained so much through their meeting together. 

As we look at the list of the 12 disciples, how many are mentioned in the rest of the New Testament beyond in a similar list?  Of course, Peter is mentioned often, as well as James and John.  Matthew wrote his own gospel, but he is not mentioned outside the gospels.  Thomas gets some press for his doubts, but he disappears after that.   We know about Philip’s encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:26-40), but not much more.  And what about Bartholomew, the other James, Simon the Zealot, or Judas (not the traitor)?  We know nothing about them except they were chosen by Jesus to be his first disciples.  Yet, we can assume they were faithful men whom Jesus loved. 

If the Scriptures are any indication of the importance of fame and recognition, then we get a sense of how upside down our world actually is.  If many of the original followers of Jesus are but names or numbers in history, what does that tell us about the importance God puts on being known in the world?

Many seek to be known in the world because it gives them a sense of importance and value.  But of what eternal value is having fame?  It matters not to God how famous or popular we are in the world.  What He recognizes and rewards is our faithfulness to Him. 

Today, know that being successful in the Kingdom of God has nothing to do with fame and fortune, but everything to do with your faithfulness in living your life for the Lord.  Even if you are never famous on this earth, you will hear these words in Eternity: “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21)

© Jim Musser 2013