Continuing our Identity Crisis series, I’d like to talk about popularity. A lot of teenagers make it a priority to be popular. We want to have lots of friends. We want to be invited to all the parties. We want to have the most likes and comments on our social media posts. Those things become so important to us as high schoolers, that we can begin to place our identity in it. I’m not the popular kid in school. I would say that I’ve always been “well-known”, but never popular. A lot of people know my name, and I get invited to several of the popular kids’ parties, but not all of them. And you know what? That’s okay. Because there’s only one friend we need. Jesus. The Bible says that He calls us friend. Imagine that! The creator of the universe wants to be friends with us. Jesus came down to earth to die a sinner’s death just so he could have a relationship with us. And honestly, a lot of us are throwing that gift away.
We become so consumed with wanting to be friends with the world that we lose focus of Christ. We say that we’re too busy to spend time with God, but we’re never too busy to FaceTime our best friend. And I’m not trying to call anyone out; I’m just as guilty when it comes to this. The Bible is very clear on a few things: we’re not to be friends with the world, and Jesus is the only friend we need. I want to be clear that I’m not saying there’s anything against having friends. We can be friends with people. We just need to be sure that we’re not going to extreme measures—compromising our faith—to fit in and be popular. Having lots of friends isn’t everything. Even the King of kings only had 12 disciples. But for some reason, we start to believe that our worth decreases if we’re not the most popular kid in the school. We become insecure because we’re placing our identity in something unstable. Here are a few scriptures to help you battle your Popularity Identity Crisis. 1. Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. This scripture clearly states that people who have a lot of friends will not thrive. The Bible wants us to know that we don’t need a lot of friends; we have the best possible friend in Jesus. And not only does He want to be our friend, he sticks closer than a brother. He is the only friend who will always be in your corner no matter what; through think and thin. He’s the only friend we need. 2. Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world… While this verse doesn’t have anything directly speaking about friends and popularity, it does reiterate what I said about compromising your values to fit in. Especially in high school, it can be easy to shove aside your beliefs in order to seem “cool” or become popular. But the Bible explicitly tells us that this is not the right thing to do. We’re called to be set apart from this world and be like Christ. The light and dark are not to be mixed. Again, this isn’t to say that we’re not allowed to be friends with unbelievers. I believe this is telling us that we’re not supposed to fall into their way of living. I realize that not pursuing popularity might be a knock on your pride, but that popularity isn’t worth it. You have the King of the world wanting to be your best friend. What more popularity do you need? Try to use these scriptures to help you see that your relationship with God is more important than any human relationship. Because as Mark 8:36 says: What do you benefit if you gain the whole world, yet forfeit your own soul?
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MissionIn short, I started this blog because I want to give girls all over the world hope. All of the topics I write about on this blog are things that I have struggled with or am still struggling with. I want to help young women everywhere achieve freedom through Christ. Archives
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