Why You Are Famous And What To Do About It

Whether you like it or not, you are famous.

No, there may not be billboards with your face or a sold-out, stadium tour in the works. But if you have influence, you have fame.

The question is, what are you going to do about it?

A couple weeks ago, we had a fabulous discussion on fame. The discussion revolved around whether it’s right or wrong to pursue it.

Today I want to take it a step further. Whether you pursue it or not, fame happens to all of us.

It doesn’t have to be large scale, Taylor Swift fame in order to matter. If you are an influencer, you are famous to someone. Whether you become a raging superstar or a popular small group leader within your youth group, a certain degree of fame will probably touch your life.

And it can be dangerous, if you’re not prepared to handle it.

The Struggle of the Spotlight

We all know the struggles of the spotlight – the trap in being adored, praised, and showered with admiration. We puff up. Our personalities change. We become obsessed with ourselves. We lose sight of what is most important.

How can we, as Christian leaders and influencers, guard ourselves from the dangers of fame?

Herein lies today’s discussion. Thanks for stopping by. Seriously.

5 Tips For Dealing With Fame

Here are 5 tips, in no particular order:

1. Love Your Family Well

If your experience has been like mine, you don’t hear the same compliments at home that you do at church. You’re famous at church. People admire you from a distance. At home, laundry needs to be done. Bills need to be paid. Love languages need to be spoken.

Rather than pushing back from that and running to the roar of the crowds, learn to love the humanity of your home. Though your spouse and children don’t always say it, you are their rockstar. Love them, spend time with them, and serve them well. Guard your heart from chasing the roar of the crowds. It won’t last.

2. Relentlessly Talk About Others

When you reach a certain degree of success, the selfish tyrant in you wants to tell everyone so they can appreciate your awesomeness as well. Resist it.

Relentlessly talk about others. Praise others. Ask great questions to other people. If they bring up what you’re doing, great. But what I’ve found is that most people struggle with insecurity and having you take an interest in them goes a long way. So shut up about your accolades and pour into others.

3. Receive Your Identity in Jesus.

Some of the best advice I’ve ever received was from Bob Sorge’s book “Dealing with the Rejection and Praise of Man.” He mentioned how the praise and rejection of man is so fickle. One minute you’re loved, the second, you’re hated or forgotten.

Don’t take the man’s praise or rejection too seriously. Stand before God every day and receive your identity as a son or daughter of God. That is all you need to survive.

4. Embrace Your Trials

I don’t know if God gives “thorns in the flesh,” but I do know that there are certain aspects of our lives that keep us humble. To be honest, I struggle with a couple physical illnesses. I believe in healing and I ask God for it, but I also know that it is used to keep me God centered when my pride spirals out of control. Though I would welcome its departure wholeheartedly, I know that God is sovereign and knows what I need. I trust Him.

What is your trial, your challenge? You don’t have deny it or love it, but just embrace the Father heart of God and know He is for you, not against you. When your pride rises up, allow your trial to remind you of your need for God.

5. Stay Available

It’s true, the more successful you become, the less available you can be to a lot of people. I love Andy Stanley’s advice: “do for one what you wish you could do for everyone.”

Just because you can’t be accessible to mass crowds doesn’t mean you can’t be accessible at all. Reach out to people. Pray for them. Allow them to interrupt your task list. Stay available to some, even though you may not be able to reach everyone individually.

Is “Equality With God” On Your Resume?

My favorite passage in Scripture regarding fame is Philippians 2:5-7:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

Jesus – the one person in history who could have been arrogant without sinning chose to serve. None of us can write “equality with God” on our resume. Jesus could, and to Him, it wasn’t a “thing to be grasped”. Rather, His strategy was to become nothing.

Mind-blowing. Counter-intuitive. Beautiful.

What are you going to do to be like Jesus today?

Question: What are some other ways we can keep any degree of “fame” from destroying our lives? You can leave a comment by clicking here.