We live in a culture that screams at us to tell us to do or be the next big thing. However, Jeff Manion says that living for the spotlight can actually be dangerous.
If we shouldn’t live for our 15 minutes of fame, what should we live for?
“Living for the spotlight can be a dangerous thing. I believe that there is something in the heart of God that is warmed and that beats for the faithful person who shows up and brings themselves often to the same people, and often in the same way.”
The unheralded, every day, repetitive actions of life cause God to beam with delight, even more so than the big, breakthrough moments. Unfortunately, we are often disenchanted with life when it seems dull and we aren’t in the limelight.
“The challenge is we grow too easily bored. I tell my younger friends that if everything has to be new and interesting all the time you will probably miss out on your greatest opportunity for impact and influence. It’s not that we’re in favor of a life of boredom, but there is just something about giving yourself even when it’s not interesting. If everything has to be interesting, I think we will really lose some great opportunities in life.”
Jeff says that we should avoid living for the spotlight, be faithful in the small things, and then continue to be faithful, over, over, and over.
“I’ve teased my congregation and said, reading the Bible tomorrow probably won’t help you. It’s usually followed by a gasp and people stare at me, and I say, because doing anything for a day doesn’t help you that much. Dieting for a day, working out for a day, saving a tiny bit of money out of one paycheck, it’s not just what we do one day, it’s what we get in the habit of doing day after day after day.”
One of the biggest roadblocks to building healthy habits is letting our emotions dictate the level of our dedication.
“Be faithful when you really feel like it, and be faithful when you don’t feel like it.”
It’s good to desire to do great things for God, because God has destined us for greatness. However, we can’t lose focus on what greatest looks like in God’s eyes.
“We desire to live extraordinary lives and I think the mistake we make is that we try to live an extraordinary life by doing an extraordinary thing. I think that’s a huge mistake because often a person who ends up leaving an extraordinary legacy, did so because they applied themselves to very ordinary things, but over a considerable period of time.”
Jeff Manion is the senior teaching pastor of multi-campus Ada Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he has served for over thirty years. He is the author of , and . His great joy is digging deeply into Scripture and passionately teaching the story of the Bible in a clear and relevant way.
Key Scripture: Galatians 6:9
Featured Songs: Start a Fire – Unspoken; Impossible – Building 429; Impossible Things – Chris Tomlin
Dream big, think small
