Fame Forever
16 Jun 2010
The World Cup is here, a whole month of football – most likely less than a month if you are an England fan – and the world’s greatest superstar footballers on display. Lionel Messi, Fernando Torres, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney et al all vying for ‘immortality’, to be remembered as a true great, to go down as a footballing legend, to have fame forever.
It’s an interesting thing fame. It seems that the majority of young people today want to be famous. The Independent newspaper recently reported that in a survey of over 1000 16 year olds, 54% responded to the question “what would you like to be when you are older” with the answer “famous”. The survey also asked respondents to name their role models. For girls, the top answer was model Kate Moss and for the boys, England footballer Wayne Rooney. Other names to make the top ten were Celebrity Big Brother winner Alex Raid, American celebrity Paris Hilton and topless model Nicola T.
As shocking as the results are they are not really surprising. There is a God-given desire within each of us to want to make a difference with our lives. I don’t think I have ever met anyone who says “I really hope my life turns out to be a meaningless and that I don’t achieve anything at all”.
If we are honest we all want to be remembered for something but, in my experience, people are looking in the wrong place and don’t really know how to go about it at all. 68% of the 16 year olds in the survey said that they didn’t know how to become famous.
Well, I would like to make a bold statement here: I do. You want fame? Take this advice:
“Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.” (1 John 2:16-17, The Message).
This is describing a very different kind of fame – the kind that actually will last forever because it’s attached to something that lasts forever. Even the most famous person to walk this planet, even the hero of the 2010 World Cup, will eventually fade away and be forgotten.
It’s a tragedy that so many people believe the lie that fame equals happiness. It’s a tragedy that so many people take their God-given desire to leave a mark on the world and use it for themselves.
1 John 2:16-17 gives us a formula for “fame”. It’s simple really and it’s got nothing to do with your talents, your looks, your ability to kick a football. It’s all about taking fame off your own agenda and instead living to make Jesus Christ famous. When you do this you attach yourself to something that will never fade away. That’s fame forever. Interested?
“Only one life, ‘twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last. And when I’m dying, how happy I’ll be, if the lamp of my life has been burned out for Thee.” (Author unknown)
James
P.S. By the way, if God blesses you with gifts and talents that bring you to the world’s attention for the right reason, then don’t shun them but use the applause of the crowd to give God the glory.
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