The Pulpit Speaks: April 23, 1960

An article written by my father, the Rev. C. Thomas Paige, as it appeared in the Tri-State Defender on the date shown.

One of the greatest dangers of human activity is popularity. The danger rests in the fact that many times during our hours of greatest popularity, we will overdo. Popularity seems to be an innate part of every human. Every normal person wants to be popular. We spend our lives trying to impress people to the point that we will be accepted.

A few days ago, I listened to a young man who had a great audience. His audience was most appreciative. One young man in describing him said, “He talks my kind of talk!” Yes, at that moment, he was “talking his kind of talk” but I saw him the next day, after he had had an opportunity to think, and he was not so jubilant about what he had heard the day before. Popularity always has a peculiar way of changing.

A few weeks ago, the world was observing the “Triumphant Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.” Sine that time, Jesus has gone into the Temple and driven out the money-changers. This was the beginning of the end.

The great thing about Jesus was that even in the hour of greatest popularity, He never lost sense of His mission. For many of us, in the hours of popularity, we are inclined to throw basic aims and wills to the wind. In such an hour, we forget all about our mission and do all that we can to become more popular. This young man of whom I spoke earlier became aware of the fact that he had said something which had won the approval of its hearers. Further and further he went – until the gates closed on him.

All of a sudden people started questioning him concerning the things he had said. There was a battle of the liberalism and the fundamentalism to which his listeners had long been exposed. Men started thinking and whenever men start thinking, something happens. In this particular instance, it meant a rejection of what had been presented.Jesus would never have allowed popularity to get between Him and His goals. No one who expects to make a lasting contribution can become overly concerned about popularity.

Normally the price paid for popularity is too great. In all instances, one pays too much for the little he is later to gain. It represents only an easy way out. Dedication to a cause means suffering and denial on the part of those so concerned. It is easy enough and, in the minds of some, rewarding enough to justify us being popular. But being popular will never bring the answer. Few men and women who spend all their lives trying to be popular will ever do much beyond merely being popular.

History has shown us that the most successful men of all times have not been those who have not been those who enjoyed the greatest popularity, but rather those who have not. At times, the most unpopular women and men are the ones who make the greatest contribution. Jesus went from the most popular man of His day to the most unpopular in a matter of a few moments.

Another factor quite evident among popularity is that it is too fleeting. Men make all types of concessions to gain popularity only to wake up and learn that they have lost all and have nothing left upon which to build. What could be more heart breaking?

The old seer of long years ago once compared the world to a stage upon which at some time every man makes his appearance. Our day of appearance is sometimes very short. By the same toke, many times our era of popularity is very short and not nearly worth the price paid for it. Life at its highest value will never be thought of in terms of popularity but rather in terms of the service we have rendered during our sojourn here.

In the eyes of some people, that old adage “it’s not what you know but who you know” may be ever so true. But over a long period of time, it is what you have done that will bear you up.

Had Jesus allowed Himself to fall prey to the urge of popularity, in all probability He would have been a forgotten man. But He chose rather to rise above popularity and do that for which to to which He was dedicated. This must be the outlook of all of us who really strive to live a life most wholesome at all points.