My Struggle with Purpose or Popularity

Scripture — Mark 1:35-38 (NRSV)

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”

Devotion

As you know if you’ve been receiving Life for Leaders for a while, most of the time I focus on a passage of Scripture and its implications for our lives, especially our work and leadership. But now and then I pause to offer a personal story informed by the text. Yesterday my devotion was called, “Purpose or Popularity?” I noted how Jesus did not let popularity draw him away from his core purpose. Today, I thought I’d share an example of how I have wrestled with a similar tension.

In 2003 I began blogging at markdroberts.com. This website still exists though I haven’t touched it for 15 years. I stopped working on it when my blogging moved first to Beliefnet and then to Patheos (http://www.patheos.com/blogs/markdroberts/).

When I began blogging, I had very few visitors (fewer than 20 a day). But, in time, my audience grew. Eventually, I had over a million unique visitors a year. I felt encouraged by this and pleased. My blog was becoming more and more popular every year.

But then, in 2008, I started writing daily devotions as part of my work at Laity Lodge and the H.E. Butt Foundation. The time and energy I had once invested in blog writing went into writing devotions. We called them the Daily Reflections. I began to blog less and less.

I had mixed feelings about what was happening. I knew I was supposed to write the devotions. But I missed blogging. And, frankly, I missed the feeling of being popular. I liked thinking I was an “influencer.” When the number of readers to my daily blog started going down, I felt torn. I had to choose at that time between popularity or purpose. By God’s grace, I chose purpose. And I’m still making that choice today. My last entry was posted on March 2, 2016, though it was somehow updated in 2018.

I almost didn’t tell this story because I run the risk of boasting: “Oh, see how much I’m like Jesus!” My point, however, isn’t how wonderful I am. The truth is that I still struggle with a desire to be liked, something that can draw me away from my chief calling in life. But my main point is that the example of Jesus can speak to our lives today, to the things we all face, whether in the workplace, in our communities, in our families, or in our churches. We need God’s grace to be committed most of all to our purpose, and not to be distracted by our desire for popularity.

Before I finish this devotion, I should confess that I take pleasure in the fact that Life for Leaders is now read more than a million times a year by thousands and thousands of readers. But I am less motivated by popularity these days, probably because I’m older. I write Life for Leaders because doing so is central to my purpose in life, which is to steward faithfully all that God has entrusted to me for God’s purposes. These days, I’m not as impressed by being liked as I am grateful for the extraordinary opportunity to make a difference in the lives of so many people and institutions. I’m thankful that God has chosen to use and bless my efforts and those of my teammates in the De Pree Center.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the High Calling archive, hosted by the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Me Monster: Fighting the Temptation to be Spectacular.