Is it good to be popular or bad to be popular?
Well, it’s complicated. God can use your appeal—if people like you, they will be interested in what you have to say about Him. But popularity is not the goal.
“Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets the same way” Luke 6:26.
Jesus says it is terrible if EVERYONE speaks well of you, because that may indicate you are a false prophet. Or a false person, anyway. Consider how Eugene Peterson paraphrases this passage in the MESSAGE:
“There’s trouble ahead when you live only for the approval of others, saying what flatters them, doing what indulges them. Popularity contests are not TRUTH contests—look how many scoundrel preachers were approved by your ancestors! YOUR TASK IS TO BE TRUE, NOT POPULAR.”
The Phillips Translation puts it this way:
“What sorrows await those of you who are always honored and lauded by others, for that’s how your forefathers treated every false prophet.”
Notice that the most popular people were the FALSE people. Why is that? Could no one see that they were false? No—I think people can see the falsity, but are afraid to call it out. Or if not afraid, they just don’t see much point in it. But negative people, lost people will always criticize one who speaks truth—because truth makes them so angry they can’t control themselves.
And that’s Jesus’s point:
If no one is ever angry at you, then perhaps you are not speaking truth.
Conversely, if you have enemies, perhaps you are a truth-teller.
Either way, remember: Woe to you when all people speak well of you.
Expect criticism. It is a normal part of life if you are going to walk in the truth.
ΑΩ
Household Words: 