Obscurity

We live in a day of celebrity…when people are famous for "being famous." Huh! It creates this vicious cycle where people think they have to do something, anything to be noticed. Good, bad, legal? We don't care. We live by some 11th commandment that states "any kind of press is good press."
There are several problems with this:
1) It shortens our usable life. After your 15 minutes of fame, then what? By world's standards, you're cast on the refuse heap of used news and passed by for the next "big thing."
2) It creates false living. If I'm notorious for (blank), then I have to keep doing (blank) - or up the ante to stay relevant. We face increased pressure to live up to the image.
3) It robs us of greater purpose. If the end of "me" is to be notorious, then I've missed my calling, my purpose, and my reason. It is rather empty, when you think about it. And, in turn, it creates despondency and hopelessness.

The Bible gives us the perfect antidote for empty living. There is a great thought slipped into the pages of scripture. In a little letter penned to some friends in Corinth, Paul, the missionary wrote this:

26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He maynullify the things that are, 29 so that no man may boast before God. 30 But by His doing you are inChrist Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, andrighteousness andsanctification, andredemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, “LET HIM WHO BOASTS, BOAST IN THE LORD.” (1 Cor 1:26-31 nas)

Life is a DIVINE work...not a human struggle. It's "by His doing" that we are, "by His doing" that we become, and "by His doing" that we sustain.

In the series, "Obscurity," we are look at some people in the Bible you've probably never heard of. They are, as we say, "Obscure - but not obsolete." They are people who discovered that the secret to really living is not being in the face of the paparazzi, but being in the grip of their Creator God. And because they are in His grip:

1) It extends life. They find a lifetime of usefulness and service. They find an eternity of hope in Glory.
2) It stabilizes life. I'm no longer trying to navigate the treacherous path of public opinion. Instead, I'm on a journey that has a divine initiative and direction. I'm playing by eternal principles that have never changed. I can walk forward with confidence.
3) It propels living. Life is no longer about image...it is about glory - HIS glory. Divine Purpose is a much more fitting motivator to the human condition than paparazzi or press.

Oh, and by the way - these obscure people - thousands of years later, we're still talking about them…. Think about it.