I can remember in high school the preparations for our senior class night way back in 1968. One of the categories that night was the "Most Popular" boy and girl. It's been thirty-six years but I believe they were Bobby "Goose" Thornberry and Krista Wagner. (Mike, Rod, Deb, Peggy...a little help here) Earlier in my high school days I had hoped that I would be popular. That disappeared quickly as I continually had to spell my last name. I was that anonymous.
Popularity plays an important part in our lives. We have the most popular TV shows we watch, cars we drive, restaurants we frequent, sports teams we follow and clothes we wear. In the late 1960's and early 1970's the Beatles made a statement concerning their popularity. They claimed that they had become more popular than Jesus Christ. Many cried blasphemy.
Today, in a list that I found through my internet service provider, I discovered what are the top twenty searches on the web. Of the top twenty, half have to do with sex, five are on finance, four are on gambling and one is concerned with sports. A quick search through the top thirty-five and more sex, gambling, finance and sports can be seen. Oddly, nowhere in those top thirty-five searches was there mention of anything to do with the Lord Jesus Christ or His church.
Eternal matters are seemingly not a source of concern for the people who frequent the net. You who are reading this are the exception to the rule. You are the oddity in your little corner of the world. You are interested in eternity and eternity's God. That doesn't exactly endear you to the majority of your co-workers and friends. Being a follower of Christ or one who is interested in Him and His teachings is not the source of popularity today.
"If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." John 15:18, 19 In the final analysis, God's popularity poll is the one that counts. He wants to know. How popular are He and His Son with you?