Do You Have the Courage to be Unpopular? (Why I Didn’t Watch the Grammys)
Who watched the Grammys this past Sunday night? Not me! I have no desire to watch them. I won’t watch the Oscars either, or any other Hollywood award show of any kind for that matter. You know why? Because they aren’t what they were (I’m not saying they were ever wonderful). There was a time in America when we would watch movies or listen to music and then see who won the awards at the end of the year just for fun. The “stars” weren’t ever perfect morally but they at least they weren’t so abrasive and political. Now I can’t watch at all and still feel like I know the Lord. Subjecting myself to a Hollywood award show would be like me agreeing to open my home up to a modern-day T.V. episode of Sodom and Gomorrah. And trust me, it’s a reality show!
But there is one thing about these award shows that, for me, serves as a microcosm of our current societal condition. All the politics and all of the in-your-face immorality have come as the result of a culture that cries for tolerance. There is a constant barrage from the media and the entertainment industry that attempts to make the gross and disgusting look normal and mainstream. As the attack on God and His Word continues, anyone who wants to stand for God and the Bible is labeled a heretic, a hater, and an insolent person.
This all would not be that big of a challenge for Christians if at the same time we weren’t living in a world where it is unpopular to be unpopular. The formation of our country actually originated from individuals who had once chosen to swim upstream. Such is no longer heroic. Has anyone noticed how even the Founding F
I wonder if there are still people in America who are willing to be free thinkers and not feel the pressures of fitting into a culture gone wrong? I wonder if there are still people in the church who are willing to stand on the Bible instead of giving into the pressures coming from religious friends who want to be accepted regardless of belief and practice? I wonder if there are still mothers and fathers who are willing to be unpopular with their children and discipline them – who teach true morality – who don’t want to fit in with teenagers or be cool parents in the eyes of their teenagers’ friends? Is there anyone out there who has the courage to be unpopular?
I recall reading in the book of James this sentiment – “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4). I don’t know what that means to you but to me it sounds like there is a price to pay for popularity. We can either be friends with a sinful and dying world or we can be friends with a perfect, eternal, and heavenly God.
There were once 12 men that were incredibly unpopular. They chose to follow a Man who was worth the sacrifice of family, friends and fortune. This friend made ridicule and persecution attractive. There was a higher aim involved that caused that Man and those men who followed Him to not fit in. Why?
Because people who belong in heaven just can’t ever really look like they belong on the earth. It takes courage to merely sojourn. But when you are building a house in another location it becomes natural to never fully put your feet down any place else.
“And He said to them, ‘You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.’” – John 8:23
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AUTHOR: Jeremiah Tatum
