Think of all the effort we spent in our teenage years thinking about popularity. Who was cool? What should I wear? Who are my friends? Even if you weren't popular (thinking of myself here), it was on your mind, shaping your thinking. And what was that popularity we craved? An odd mix of following the world and hoping that others follow you. It's trying to be like everybody else so that everyone else will want to be like you.
Maybe I'm over that now. But probably not. My guess is it's been morphed into a more subtle, more adult form. The desire for worldly approval is rooted deep in human nature.
I was reading Luke chapter 4 and it struck me: Jesus wasn't popular. After an initial tour of preaching and healing, he returns home. At the local synagogue he reads a passage in Isaiah and takes a seat among family and friends. Then he makes an audacious claim that this prophecy, and by extension countless others, are fulfilled "today" and "in your hearing."
And what's the reception? They like his style. A smart, articulate young man. But just a man. Jesus is ordinary. "Is not this Joseph's son?" This is not the conquering king we're ready to follow. We don't believe you. And we don't want you and your type around.
How does Jesus respond? Jesus doesn't try to assuage them or give them a few more points to establish his legitimacy. He confronts. He challenges their arrogant presumption of being in God's favor just because of their lineage. And for that he's run out of town and nearly flung off a cliff.
This must be because Jesus was supremely confident of who he was and because he was laser focused on his mission. He would preach and teach for a season, then he would go to the cross. And after his resurrection, he would establish a church that would go out into the world. He saw past momentary problems to the grand view of God's kingdom.
And Jesus calls us to do likewise. So we probably need to go about it a little like him: with enough confidence and purpose to look beyond the approval of the world. Keeping our eyes on the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of man. It may make a little more brash, a little more tell-it-like-it-is, a little less appealing to those around us. But we can cultivate an eager expectation of hearing "Well done, my good and faithful servant", which is all the approval we'll ever need.
