Did You Hear Who Became a Christian?!

The other day Ben Arment wrote on his blog, “What would Christians do if Bono ever fell like Tiger? We’d have to go back to Jesus, I guess” and I smiled because it’s a great line, but even more because it’s a great point. There’s something in Christians that desperately wants to glorify people. If someone famous is or becomes a Christian, we’re throwing parties and wearing out our mouths telling people about it and getting t-shirts with their face on it.

In fact, one of the weird things about Christians is that we become huge fans of famous people who aren’t Christians, but kind of seem like Christians. If someone famous has good morals, or conservative politics, we’ll rush to celebrate them (I think privately hoping they are a Christian, we just haven’t heard yet).

So what is that in us? I think it’s our wanting to not feel weird. It’s like … if some famous athlete or rock star is a Christian, well then our club can’t be that bad, can it? I mean, if some of this season’s American Idol candidates are Christians, then maybe I’m not a nerd for believing in Jesus, and creation, and that one time a donkey talked (and it wasn’t animated).

And it all seems kind of innocuous, until you read a great quote like Ben’s, or even more when you check out today’s reading (Psalm 146) where we are clearly told to not put our trust in people, but in God alone.

So … today I am officially throwing away my Kurt Warner t-shirt, ending my membership in the Stephen Baldwin fan club, taking down my John Tesh poster, and canceling the Willie Aames testimony at our church. I just hope this Jesus guy is enough.