When I write an article, there is rarely much reaction. I understand that this is because most people rarely read anything longer than a soundbite. This may be because people lead very busy lives and just do not have the time. I hope that this is the case, rather than that folks just cannot be bothered! 😊 This is why I like to put out these little single-paragraph ‘Thoughts for the Day’, which are read more and generally receive many more reactions, as is the case with this one about being a “God-approved pariah”. However, as is always the case with any cut-price edition, there are things missing which have gone unsaid, and I do not really like being economical with teaching. So, for those who like to dig a little more deeply, here is a little commentary (a mere 10-minute read) on each part of that “Thought for the Day”. First, a reminder about what that “Thought for the Day” contained:

“Never seek popularity, for it is always a poisoned chalice in this twisted world” (Luke 16:15; Galatians 1:10; Matthew 6:1; John 12:41-43).

These are the words with which it began. If one seeks popularity with others, it implies that one is not only emotionally immature, but also narcissistic. If you are a disciple of Christ, the seeking of popularity from people is not only unnecessary but it is to be eschewed as it will never bring good rewards. Yet, the seeking of popularity is the whole basis of celebrity in this world. Children grow up with fantasies of being famous, or of rubbing shoulders with those who are. People seek the mere signatures of the famous and revere fame. But fame is a trap, and in this fallen world it leads nowhere. Of course, one can become accidentally famous through, for example, inventing something useful. In that case, one has to be mature enough to deal with it and handle it. But fame should never be something in which one indulges oneself or takes delight. If one wants to follow Christ and be His disciple, one should deny oneself (Matthew 16:24), part of which must surely involve eschewing the seeking of fame.

This injunction of “Never seek popularity” applies just as much in the church as in the world. Seeking to be famous as a Christian is the very antithesis of healthy servanthood to Christ. “Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10). This applies also to teachers in the churches, who can become virtually idolized and put on a pedestal. This is why I am so wary of megachurches or vast congregations wherein the ‘cult of the personality’ can take hold and teachers become venerated idolatrously as if they were little gods. It is also why it is necessary for a teacher to have an unpretentious understanding of himself as a nobody. Even Paul the Apostle knew that he was “nothing” (2 Corinthians 12:11) and that it was only in his weakness that Christ’s strength would be made manifest (2 Corinthians 12:10).

“You do not need anyone else’s attentions to validate who you are”.

The seeking of validation from other people is a narcissistic enterprise, and it is a trap. People are fickle and can drop you just as easily as take you up. You need no human to validate you. There is only One whose attentions you should seek to validate your existence. You do not need me to tell you who that is.

“So please just be whoever God has plainly called you to be, once you are mature enough to discern that”.

It does take some maturity and objectivity to discern what it is that God has called you to in your life. Very often our obsession with subjectivity means we think that just because we like something, or are good at it, then that must be what God wants us to do. But that is not necessarily the case at all. As J.C. Ryle has put it, “The thing that we think is best for ourselves is often worst for our souls”. So it takes objective wisdom and maturity to discern this. If you exercise that prayerfully and from the heart, then what you should be doing will be made clear to you, provided you are seeking to be God’s servant rather than your own promotion manager.

“If you empathically speak the truth in all its fullness, without compromise, you will never be popular, and you will most likely be a pariah” (Matthew 5:11-12; Luke 6:22-23; John 15:19; 1 Corinthians 4:13).

This is a stark reality of the life of the disciple of Christ in this world, as you see from the Bible references above. If a professing Christian is loved by the world and popular in it, there will be something truly amiss. For “whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4). If you, as a genuine disciple of Christ, have become widely popular with everyone in the world (and even in the church! 😱), then it is likely that you are not propagating truth faithfully. A tiny handful will love you for your proclamation of truth but most will not. This is the reality. But this will not be the case if you present watered-down cordial for the masses. They will love you for that. Most people love a compromiser who stops short of giving them the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. They want you to compromise with what you say. They do not care what you believe inwardly, so long as you water it down outwardly. Then you will be popular.

But notice that I say, “even in the church” (What? Shock-horror!). “If you, as a genuine disciple of Christ, have become widely popular… even in the church, then it is likely that you are not propagating truth faithfully”. This is because the greater part of what people think is the church today (the “visible church”) consists of impostors and counterfeit Christians. So, if you proclaim truth to this false church too, then they will also treat you as a pariah, deriding your teachings, spreading lies about you and making out as if it is you who is the one being disobedient to the Spirit, etc.

But now we come to a most important part of this little commentary:

“There is no greater human achievement than being a God-approved pariah in this fallen world!”

This is absolute truth… but… big “but” here. The emphasis in the text has to be on the words, “God-approved”. You see, it is easy to be a pariah in the world and in the church for all the wrong reasons. Some folks thrive on being a pariah because they think that in itself demonstrates God’s approval. But one could be a pariah because one is a loud-mouthed bigot who never stops going on at unbelievers about how they are going to roast in hell, so everyone wants to avoid you. You could be speaking the truth but not in a way which reflects the spirit of the Gospel. Or you could be obsessed with some fanatical hobby-horse which may be the truth but it is imbalanced and does not take into account where the hearers are at. So becoming a pariah for all the wroing reasons. Mere unpopularity is no yardstick of God’s approval. This is also why I wrote, “If you empathically speak the truth in all its fullness…”. If one is going to speak truth without compromise, it helps tremendously if that is done in such a way that you can empathise with the situation in which your hearers find themselves. Empathy is part of what it means to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), and responding “with gentleness and respect” when we tell people why there is a hope within us (1 Peter 3:15).

In other words, our pariahdom has to be “God-approved” rather than being because we love to bombard people with truth as if it is a cruise missile, in the explosion of which we take delight. Being a pariah for truth is a worthy honour only when it is by way of something which would be approved by God. Then, standing alone and rejected by the mass of humanity and even by the mass of professing ‘Christians’, we would not be alone at all but vindicated by a cloud of witnesses who have gone before us and we would be upheld by the God of truth. And we do need to be prepared to stand completely alone, if necessary, for the sake of the truth. As William of Ockham (1285-1347) put it:

“In matters of faith and science I am more impressed by one evident reason or by one authori­tative passage of Holy Scripture correctly under­stood than by the chorus of mankind. I am not ashamed to be convinced of truth. In fact, to have truth victorious over me I consider the most useful thing for me. But I never want to be defeated by the multitude. It may, indeed, be read in the sacred utterances that the multitude, as a rule, errs, and that very often one solitary man may put all the rest to flight”. [emphasis added]

Indeed. So always ensure if you are a pariah that it is for the right reasons, with God’s stamp of approval, and then you can humbly stand with truth against the holocaust of mendacity and tenebrity which swamps the world and the church at this present time. But never seek or expect any kind of popularity. If some people happen to love you for the light of your truth, then consider that as something coming from God which must never be sought after and will only be given where there is humility and dedication.

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© Copyright, Alan Morrison, 2025
[The copyright on my works is merely to protect them from any wanton plagiarism which could result in undesirable changes (as has actually happened!). Readers are free to reproduce my work, so long as it is in the same format and with the exact same content and its origin is acknowledged]

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