By Carlos C. Brown
Good Morning Peeps! How are you and yours doing this Friday morning, good I hope? Are you having a good week so far, I sure hope so? Have a good and very Blessed day and rest of the week too! And for all you Father’s out there, have a very Happy “Father’s Day” this Sunday!!!! - May God Bless You and Yours In 2019 and Beyond!!! And AMEN goes right here….
#SalvationIsOnlyThruJesusChrist
“This is the day that the Lord has made! I will rejoice and be glad in it!”
***Remember, if you haven’t purchased it already, my newly published book “The Third Eye Perspective” book of Devotionals is available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and Xulon Press in Paperback, Hardback, also on EBook. and also in the December 2018 edition of the Christian Book Buyers Guide Catalog on page #7! You can also follow me on Twitter (CCBrown67) and Instagram (Doubletuff99) for additional inspirational Devotionals! Thank you!
A Christian Cowboy Perspective:
Thought For Today – “Popularity Contest”
Question, “why is it so important to the human race to be “popular” amongst their peers? Stop and think about how hard, and or how far some people are willing to go just to be popular among their peers? Acceptance is something that we seek even as young kids, when we first start going to daycare, after our security blankets (Parents) leave from dropping us off. It seems like once we get over the shock of that temporary feeling of abandonment by our parents, it is immediately replaced with an overwhelming desire to be accepted or be “Popular” among the other kids there at the daycare. And I would be willing to bet, that without even realizing it, some kids act out because they are frustrated that the other kids aren’t rushing over to play with them. Which is a whole different problem within itself, because if they see that acting out results in nurturing attention, they quickly learn to do it everytime they want to feel that false sense of love or “Popularity.” It is with this train of thought, or line of thinking that it was placed on my heart this morning to talk about, “Popularity Contest.” And AMEN goes right here! I think some kids even carry this learned behavior on to their home life, when the parents pick them up that evening. “If it worked with the kids at daycare, maybe it’ll work again on my parents?” I could see a child thinking like that even in their young adolescent minds. The natural process of maturing, allows us the opportunity to grow out of this behavior, and we learn (or should learn that is), that “Being Popular” isn’t as important as is being respected. And some kids could care less about being accepted, they go over in the corner and play quietly and peacefully by themselves until they either get hungry or need to go to the bathroom. My son Dawson was one of those kids, never caring about if other kids would play with him or not. Put some Tonka trucks, little Army men, a Blues Clues, Dora The Explorer, and the ever dreaded “BARNEY” video on and he was good LOL! Ironically, I credit all of those videos and child TV learning programs, for developing his impeccable speaking and learning abilities that he has perfected to a fault in his latter school grades as being a very positive influence on him. A Straight “A” student with a very disciplined study habit practice that even I admire to this very day! He just completed his Sophomore year in college and has made the Presidential Scholars list all 4 semesters! That is a HUGE accomplishment! I consider myself lucky, in that we very rarely if ever, have to get onto him about studying. Some children just make being a parent easy, and I thank God everyday that He Blessed me with one of those kids…and ironically, everyone of his daycare workers he’s ever been associated with, spoiled him rotten with attention. I’m sure like any other kid he enjoyed all that attention, but it never seemed to be required…
So what happens when a child doesn’t grow out of that mentality? I’m very glad you asked, because it is a HUHE problem our society isn’t doing enough to help curb or “combat” in the early years. Kids that get so wrapped up in popularity contests as opposed to “respect” from their peers, open themselves up to all sorts of problems. I personally, was never all that big on being “popular” either. I was a lot like my son Dawson, in my earlier years being a little on the shy side. That didn’t last long once I got into high school LOL. Think back to when you were in say elementary or high school, I’ll give you a little time because I know some of us have to think a lot harder and a little longer to dig up those memories LOL. Were you the type to seek out people’s approval? Did you feel validated if you ran in the “cool kid circle?” Of course everyone to an extent likes to be popular, and they even had awards of “Most Popular” or “Most Likely to Succeed.” Who came up with these titles? Isn’t that probably one of the worst forms of negative reinforcement for popularity starved adolescence??? What if a child really worked diligently to win this award and came up short and then retaliated because their arch nemesis won it? LOL! Yes I know that is a stretch, but in this day and age it is very possible. That makes me think about the movie “Carrie,” who all she wanted to do was “fit in” or be “Popular.” Well if you’ve seen even the trailers for that old movie, then you know how bad it actually could be in extreme cases. It didn’t turn out too well for the kids that made fun of her by voting her Prom Queen just to be able to humiliate her on the ultimate stage. What she did may or may not be realistic, but I’m sure there would be repercussions if someone did something like that today even if the person the crime was committed against didn’t have “special” or evil powers of witchcraft. Then, think about the tragic murder of the cheerleader in Texas (I think it was Texas) because the girl who didn’t make captain, her mother got so angry that she either took out a hit on the one who did or succeeded in murdering her. How crazy is that to take “popularity” to that level?? Is it really THAT serious to be popular, and accepted among you peers? I doubt it….at least I’ve tried to instill in my son that it isn’t. Even on their jobs, people tend to go way out of their way to be “popular” with all their co-workers and especially bosses. They start brown nosing, going way out of their way to be noticed over their other co-workers in that boss’ sight, and worst of all, will even allow their boss the privilege of experiencing “movie star” status by the way their employee acts towards them, all in the name of trying to be “popular,” Have you ever had a younger sister or brother that idolizes you, worships the ground you walk on? Yeah me either, LOL but it is pretty much the same scenario. They try to dress like you, walk like you, talk like you, act like you, so much so that they don’t even realize they are sacrificing their own identity to try and take on the identity of someone they feel is “popular.” The sad part about that, is that the very person/or people you try so hard to impress, or be “popular” in the eyes of, loses what little or any respect for you they may have had originally, because they see how desperate your attempts are. God see’s us as special in His eyesight and that’s the only “popularity” approval we should be seeking, not man….
Now let me wrap this up, why isn’t it that important for most (yes I said MOST) people to want to be that Popular with Jesus? It appears we are so obsessed with being Popular with the opposite sex, our friends, co-workers, and the public in general. But why when it comes to Jesus, we could care less if we are popular with Him or not? What’s even worse, is that there are even people who are embarrassed to openly admit they proudly not only Believe in, Worship freely, and have a close relationship with God? As I stated in a previous “Thought for Today”, we are living in a time where being politically correct is “Popular.” We don’t want to offend the Muslims, we don’t want to offend the Jews, we don’t want to offend the Arabs, Homosexuals, People of different Races, or people who are of a different Religion, Political Party, etc.. and can you believe we don’t even want to offend the Atheists either? And what is the result of this Political Correctness? We therefore Crucify (yes I said it, CRUCIFY) Him (Jesus) of flesh. Jesus might as well come down and climb right back up on the Cross on Calvary’s Mtn. In respect to how some people have forgotten the whole purpose of Him doing it in the first place! Let me stop there, somebody gonna mistake that for Preaching LOL! I could go on and on all day long on that one, but you get the point. “Check yourself before you wreck yourself” (Spiritually speaking) on the level of importance you place on “Popularity contests” among the wrong people for the wrong reasons. And remember, and I’m about to go in DEEP on you, even Satan himself at one time sought to be “Popular” in God’s eyes and you don’t think it should be important to you? You better recognize……When you choose to become a Christian, all those fake behaviors, beliefs, and actions have to be shed off. You have to be better, and especially DO better to run this Christian race. All the things that you thought were important (worldly things listed above) you find out in the Bible teachings are against God’s idea of what we should be, and more importantly how we should act.
Can I leave you with a question to ponder today?
“Who are you trying to impress, man or Jesus Christ?” Can I Get an Amen????
“Today, choose to “Ride or Die” with Jesus Christ 110%! Afterall, isn’t that EXACTLY what HE did for US on the Cross?”
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