Tag Archives: famous

Almost Famous: The Cosmic Guide to Being Known

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Our culture loves celebrities, doesn’t it? We celebrate people we see on movie stages and concert stages, people who are well-known. (That’s where “celebrities” comes from, people whom we celebrate.) There are whole businesses built around tracking the, photographing them, and giving us every detail that can be known about their lives.

With the pervasive presence of cell phones and security cameras, many things are recorded for posterity that used to stay unknown. As we have seen many times on social media, what is known can either be an asset or a liability, but most of us would probably say it must be pretty cool to be famous… The Bible has a little bit of a different take about what is really required to be well-known.

“If any man thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet that he ought to know; but if any man loves God, the same is known of him.” (1 Corinthians 8:2-3, NIV). For years I have called this my “Life Verse”, because I think it embodies the gap between what we see as important and what God thinks is important. Knowledge is one of our greatest barriers to learning something new. Thinking we know everything is a sure-fire way to keep from getting to know everything. What is known can keep us from finding the unknown…

How Do You Make the A List?

By celebrating human thought and accomplishment, the world only scratches the surface of what’s important. Think about it: who are these celebrities, and what are the usual requirements for someone to become well-known or TMZ-worthy?

known and famous

As Billy Joel said in “Still Rock and Roll”, “Don’t you know about the new fashion, honey? All it takes are looks and a whole lot of money”. Having money is a great place to start, and projecting a sexy or attractive image certainly helps. Our culture celebrates actors, athletes, fashionistas, law-breakers, skin-flashers, rock stars and self-promoters. You see them on TV. The paparazzi follow them around. The tabloids make up stories about them, and they exhibit their flashy smiles and skimpy bikinis at your grocery checkout stand.

The Other Checkout Stand…

For all of those people, and for all who follow them, hoping for a glimpse of a celebrity: “You know nothing yet that you ought to know”. The tabloids at the check out stands in the Kingdom of heaven will have a whole different set of headlines. What you know is not nearly as important as WHO you know. The world offers its worldly wisdom and fleeting fame. Fleeting, you say? Quick: name the hottest actress from 1921. Name the biggest celebrity from 1971. The world keeps turning, and it’s turning fast. Heaven’s celebrations have a totally different perspective.

Paul says that the person who loves God will be known because THEY LOVE GOD. When people talk about you, what do they say? Do they say “wow, that (Your Name Here) must really love God!” Or do they say something else? What are YOU noteworthy for? If you want to be famous, and if you want to be celebrated, then the Bible’s advice is simple: Love God. It’s a surefire way to accomplish on an eternal scale what so many people hunger for on an earthly one. Love God. Be known.

How to Be Well Known

What things guide us, and what things can aim us
At a way to be celebrated, or even Famous?
Is it looking hot? Wearing all the right fashion?
Or lookin for answers with money and passion?
Being rich always works, if you have lots of money:
Folks will flock to you just like the bees do to honey!
You’ll get some attention by showing some skin,
And finding some trouble that you can be in;
If it’s drugs, sex or cheating that you like to play with,
Or even the bad boys that you like to stay with,
You probably can’t do it all on your own,
So remember these things if you want to be known...

BUT
If the world’s definition seems shallow and lame,
There’s a whole different way to seek fortune and fame. (Not in all of the ways that this world tries to show you, But in knowing the Father, and letting Him know you!)
Stay humble. Love God with your heart and your head,
Disregard worldly things and believe what He said,
And you’ll find you’re inclined to be like Him, instead…
At the end of the day you will find you have grown
Not in fame or the game, but in just being KNOWN.

To buy my latest book, Real People, Real Christmas: Thirty-one Days Discovering the Hidden Treasures of the Christmas Story, go here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1729034918/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For Slaying Giants: Thirty Days with David, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Slaying-Giants-Thirty-Devotions-Ordinary/dp/172568327X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535814431&sr=8-1&keywords=Slaying+Giants%3A+Thirty+Days+With+David
To buy my book, Beggar’s Bread, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Devotions-Ordinary-Guy/dp/1535457392/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-1&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread

Famous People Might not be Famous for the Right Reasons

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Here in America, we think being famous is cool. We watch TMZ or read People Magazine to keep up with all the “stars”. We get all gaga if we meet Lady Gaga or somebody else that’s famous, and if we were honest, a lot of us would love to BE famous. Andy Warhol said over FORTY YEARS AGO, that with the advent of media technology, “In the future, everybody is going to be world-famous for fifteen minutes.” (often used in reference to people who gain brief notoriety: “they’ve had their fifteen minutes of fame.”) In John’s third Epistle, we get some good advice about how being famous is going to count in the grand scheme of things: what if your fifteen minutes of fame fizzled? Or turned fickle?

famous

“It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth… I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us.” (3 John 1:3-4; 9)

Being Well-Known Depends on What You Are Known FOR

John wrote this letter to Gaius, a friend who had shown hospitality to John’s messengers on a previous trip. In it, he makes a couple of guys famous for completely different reasons. It is a contrast in two ways of doing business in the church. There is the warm, hospitable way that Gaius had demonstrated. His way apparently involved being faithful to the truth and loving others, even strangers (v 6). Gaius’ faithfulness and love earned him good reports and the appreciation of the church, and since we are reading about him today, I guess you could say it made him famous.

Diotrephes (Die-ah-truh-fees), on the other hand, was a local church leader who for some reason refused John’s messengers and refused John’s message. He did not allow John’s message to be read, and even kicked some church members out for welcoming other, different believers to church. Diotrephes (“who loves to be first”) may have been driven by jealousy; he may have wanted to maintain control; he may have even thought that, as a man called by God to lead, his own opinion was paramount and should not be contaminated by John’s message or his people.

So, What Are the Right Reasons for Being Famous?

Whatever his reasons, Diotrephes had ONE shot at being mentioned in Scripture, and instead of being called out as a hero of the faith, or even as a faithful man, he is mentioned for being evil. He became famous for all the wrong reasons.

Here are two things about that: first, I hope your church is inclusive, friendly, loving, and truthful, and run by servant leaders who follow the truth. The most common complaint I hear about Christians is that we are too judgmental, too snooty, or too righteous. Here’s some friendly advice: STOP IT! Instead, let’s try to be known for being too generous or too loving…

And second: If you had one shot to be mentioned in the Lord’s book, what would Scripture say about you? When successive generations read your snippet in the Second book of Acts, how will the writer characterize YOU? Will they describe someone “who loves to be first”, or someone who lives in love and walks in truth? Well, that book is being written. It’s not too late for you to influence your paragraph. Write one that matters. Write one that loves. No matter the times, or the place, or the seasons, Make sure YOU are famous for all the right reasons.

Two Famous Guys

Diotrephes just loved to be first;
But John called him out for being the worst.
The Bible recorded Diotrephes name,
But linked him with selfishness, power, and shame.
It’s lame that he wasted his one shot at fame
By playing his own little personal game…
He didn’t like John or deliver his letter;
And only did worse when he could have done better!

He wasn’t too godly, and those are the facts;
But tell me, when they write the NEW Book of Acts,
That records all the works that we Christians will do,
What will your paragraph say about YOU?
I hope we aren’t mentioned for things that will shame us:
There’s more than one way to approach being famous.

To buy my latest book, Real People, Real Christmas: Thirty-one Days Discovering the Hidden Treasures of the Christmas Story, go here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1729034918/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For Slaying Giants: Thirty Days with David, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Slaying-Giants-Thirty-Devotions-Ordinary/dp/172568327X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535814431&sr=8-1&keywords=Slaying+Giants%3A+Thirty+Days+With+David
To buy my book, Beggar’s Bread, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Devotions-Ordinary-Guy/dp/1535457392/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-1&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread

For the Kindle Edition, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Bo-Jackson-ebook/dp/B01K5Z0NLA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-2&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread