popular.

What is popularity really?


pop·u·lar·i·ty  (ppy-lr-t) n.
"The quality or state of being popular, especially the state of being widely admired, accepted, or sought after."

'Sought after'. That sounds nice, right? everyone dreams of being wanted, loved, demanded. We crave attention, we crave our own forms of popularity. Little do we know, we seek them from the wrong people, places, and things. I know I was guilty of that in high school. Picture a sheltered, mousy, 14 year old girl entering in a 3,000+ person public high school. I craved friends, I needed attention from these new classmates. So I readily accepted any attention I received from people who wanted to be friends. This has always been a weakness of mine. I tend to want quantity over quality of friendships.

Now, do not get me wrong. I had awesome friends in high school. By junior year, I was with who I needed to be with. But I often wonder if I might have found these awesome friends sooner if I had just waited. I basically ditched God when I got to high school, so I just searched for the friends that were readily available to me. If I had just trusted Him, I could have avoided so much pain and heartache.

I wanted popularity in high school, and of course I cared what other people thought about me. But hello? I should not have. So many times I believed the lies of the enemy and of other people rather than running to the truth that my Savior provided. I still do that. But it just astounds me that no matter how many lies I believe, Jesus continues to reach through the white noise surrounding me and inject truth into my heart.

The only person I should be worried about pleasing is God, and the only person who I should be trying to seek after is my Lord and savior. I am so easily distracted! Who wouldn't be, in a world full of time fillers? But lately, I have been reading a book called Popular: Boys, Booze, and Jesus by Tindell Baldwin. It is an amazing story of sin, redemption, and raw grace. It has made me look at myself, and how I treat the God who redeemed me.

Because at the end of the day, we all want to be loved. We just have to decide to accept unconditional love from the one true Savior.


Matthew 22:37-39 (The Message)
Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list.