Mass Elitism A.K.A why is no one commenting on my blog?

Ok here is a problem that I have just discovered about myself, *deep breath* my name is Jonathan and I need attention. There I said it. I am an individual that thrives off the attention of others. Here is how this scenario plays out. On Monday morning I wake up, I get out of bed, make coffee, brush my teeth, take my dogs out and then go into my office. As I am sitting at my desk in my office I begin to realize that I need to do a lesson for this or a lesson for that and I begin the beautiful process that is lesson or sermon writing. When I am done with this process I sit back, breath a sigh of relief and instantly this thought comes into my mind, "I hope _______ likes this." There is a blank there because on any given day the name that goes inside of that blank changes. Now I know I should not being doing my job for the glory of any one else except my heavenly Father, but let's be honest with out selves for a moment. When was the last time you did something purely for that reason? When was the last time you dressed with the idea that you were going to please God? When was the last time you decorated your house and thought, "Gee I hope God likes this." If we were all honest with ourselves I think we would realize that a large majority of what we do is done in order to please other people. Or maybe to but it more bluntly, we do it so other people will like us. Why is it that I operate like this? I think it has something to do with the way I have been trained to act ever since I was a small child. I can remember as a child sitting in school being taught the most basic of human lessons, to matter you need to succeed, and to succeed you need people to think your worth following. We all learned this lesson and we learned it in one of two ways. We were either cool and people liked us, or we were uncool and we watched other people be liked and in turn we copied what those people were doing in the hope that someone would pay us attention. Now I realize that for most of us it was not this clean cut, we had moments where we were kings of the world, and then moments where the kings of the world beat us up and stole our girlfriends(personal experience? You be the judge). As adults we have somehow convinced our selves that we have grown out of this need for self validation, but I would suggest we have just gotten a whole lot more sneaky about it. Let me give you an example.

Three years ago I purchased an Apple Computer. My old PC had broke and it was time for a purchase. I would like to say that I purchased my MAC because I was sure it was the best buy, I would like to say that I own it because it best meets my needs for the work that I need done as a minister, but if I was really honest with myself I would have to say the reason I own a MAC is because somewhere down the line I learned from a mopey haired kid with cool jeans and a sweater that cool college students own MAC's. Sure it does what I need it to do, yes I love that it does not crash, but what I really like about it is the fact that I am part of, "the group." If you are apart of the group you know what I'm talking about. When your sitting in a coffee shop and you see another person pull out a MAC you secretly in your heart know that you both are part of a far superior group of computer owning individuals. If you do not own a MAC you too are aware of the group mentality that comes from the MAC owner, in fact you have probably been proselytized more than once in an attempt to get you to convert to our way of life. Rest assured the Apple Company is not unaware of this phenomenon, in fact I believe it is what they can owe their success too, Apple has captured the essence of what I have come to call "mass elitism." Mass elitism is where we have some how convinced ourselves that we are independent and different, but in reality we are following the crowd. Somewhere deep down inside we know that this is the case, but thats ok because to be apart of the mass elite is safe and validating. If your sitting there saying to your self, "I have never been apart of that," then let me just throw out a couple of words. Track Jackets, Jnco Jeans, Tight Jeans, Slap Bracelets, Hoola Hoops, Roller Skates, The Blair Witch Project, Iphone, Macbook, Rock Band, Ipods, Playing the Guitar, The Real World, LOST, American Idol, Blogs Facebook, and gmail. If you have ever, worn, watched, owned or wish you owned any of the above mentioned things you have fallen victim to Mass Elitism...sorry.

It's ok we all do it, it has gone on since the fall of man and will continue to go on until the end, but here is why I bring it up. I think as Christians we need to be very careful about our intentions and reasons for doing certain things. I am observing and must confess being caught up in what I think may be a disturbing trend among ministers of the Christian faith, we are beginning to market ourselves as the mass elite. We write blogs that we hope other ministers will read and comment about how smart we are (Come on you know you do it). We write sermons that sometimes have little to do with the Cross of Christ and more to do with how people can feel better when they wake up tomorrow, when in fact a lot of people should wake up feeling crappy because they are living crappy God hating lives. We dawn our cool jeans, tight t-shirts and style our hair just right so that the people we stand in front of every day will find us physically appealing and somehow we believe that is going to bridge the gap and make Jesus more spiritually appealing. We worship the speakers of the faith that bring us great insight into God's word instead of pausing to worship the God who allows them the very mouth they speak these words from, and all the while we secretly wonder how we can one up the last sermon we heard, or the last blog that we read, not so that Christ will be glorified but so that we can be validated. We have turned Christianity into the same idea as an Apple computer or the latest movie that needs to be seen, but here is the problem with that, trends die, elite groups fade, and so does the validation that comes from being apart of these idols. So lately I have been trying to check my motives. Why do I write blog articles? Why am I apart of the Facebook community? Why do I care if anyone likes what I write, say, dress like, own, or look like? If I am a true follower of Christ I should gather my validation as a human being from Christ shouldn't I? Why should I care if a blind person thinks I am handsome? Why do I care if a deaf person does not like what I say? According to scripture thats what we are as a human race. With out God we are blind, deaf and dumb, and only God can make us whole. It is God we should pull our validation from, and until we do that we will always find out selves among the Mass Elite, always changing, never satisfied, always insecure.

So how about you? How do you make sure that the motives for what you do as a Christ follower and a minister are pure?