Attention Seekers

When some people walk into a room all eyes turn to them. They make sure they do! Is this an act of confidence, a need for attention, pride or insecurity? Of course it depends on the individual, but the most stable people seem to be those who have the least fuss made in their presence!

Hollywood, at it's Oscars, has a red carpet on which stars march and preen for their admirers. That's to be expected. They're paid to titillate and pose. However, it seems that public places where average people tread have translucent "red carpets". They're there, but only those making the grande entrance see it! Some people just live for attention and their personality is geared to get it! I call this behavior the "Jesus Complex". Let me explain for I'm neither belittling our Savior nor making him proud in what he did!

John 12:12 "On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord."

The Jewish people expected a King and a warrior who would restore the kingdom of Israel. They came out to honor the king. They laid the palm tree branches out making an invisible "red carpet" (figuratively speaking) as they waved palm branches for Jesus!  In all ancient middle eastern societies "palms" stood for "victory"!  Victors walk the red carpet. It's not a carpet for losers! Jesus is the Victor, but those who walk the red carpet for attention are losers! They walk in unworthily and for the wrong reasons.

Here's the rest of the story:

John 12:14 "And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written, 15 Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass's colt."

First off, where is it written?

Zechariah 9:9 "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

Zechariah saw the "red carpet" about 500 years before Jesus Christ walked on the carpet lined with palms! Where attention-seekers on the red carpet are pretenders to royalty, Jesus IS royalty! However,  as I said before "...the most stable people seem to be those who have the least fuss made in their presence!" Jesus didn't want a fuss because he is a King, but because he came to serve!

Can you imagine servants walking down the red carpet. They stop occasionally while people ignore them and turn slowly around so their plainness can be seen by all!  Servile people ride symbolic asses!

Asses are donkeys and they have been used for work for 5000 years! They are pack animals who carry the burdens of people. They are the epitome of servitude! Jesus rode down his  "red carpet" on this lowly animal. It was symbolic of his not coming to be served, but to serve!

Matthew 20:28 "Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Now back to people: Whereas Jesus traveled the red carpet, so to speak, because he was humble, attention-seeking people travel their own red carpet, well, for attention and self-aggrandizement!  I see this even in public places and church! Look at those who dress extravagantly then tread the aisle back and forth, turning to and fro, posing for the human cameras.  They get their satisfaction from those who adore them! This is in opposition to the King riding a lowly ass! Rather than riding the ass, they become the ass!

I went to a church some time ago. Many men there dressed in the finest suits and the women looked much like runway models in their latest attire. People would tell each other how great they looked today in their finest!  It seemed to me, and a few others, that church was not to be a show place, but a place to magnify God. It's he that's King, not us, but it appeared that the people were the center of attention.

People who put value on clothes gamble on where value really is!

Mark 15:24 "And when they had crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what every man should take."

Here was the most profoundly significant time in history: God dying on the cross for the sins of all mankind. Pride was dying there, but for the men who crucified him, it was his clothes they wanted! They gambled for his garments and even those who "won", "lost". Their priorities were wrong!

Likewise, those who stroll the aisle in public, displaying their finery, are getting their reward right there. Just like Hollywood, they are glorifying in their moment of fame, but they gamble! Being awed isn't being meek! It's being an ass!

I wear a cheap suit to church on occasion just for variety. Most of the time I am dressed nicely, but plainly. Much of the time I am in blue jeans! I dress commonly for several reasons.

When I was a child I was ashamed. I had to go to church in everyday clothes. That wouldn't be bad now, but then even middle class people wore suits! Not only were my clothes everyday, but holey (as in torn) everyday... and they were too big for me and stained because they were hand-me-downs. I felt out of place in church because I was poor! Now I desire that all who enter feel as if their dress is proper. My contribution to that is common clothes.

Another reason is that I want God to be the focus of people in church. I don't care whether people like my suit or not! I do care that people praise Jesus. If they're looking at my clothes, they're not praising Jesus. I would then have become a distraction!

I don't want to have pride. Clothes are a reflection on how we feel about ourselves. Lack of pride is not a problem of mankind. Excessive and displaced pride is a curse!

Lastly, dress is a distraction to me (and to others). I visited a church one Sunday and sat behind an entire row of women in short dresses, low-cut tops and tight jeans. To be honest, I did little worship of Jesus that day. I pleasured my own little "god". These may have been fine Christian women, but they were a stumbling-block for me. In my mind I, and wrongly so, referred to this as "the hooker row".

Several months later a humble Christian man came to me crying. That same church was his! I asked, "What's the problem?" He said "I'm having a problem with lust, even in church!" Knowing where he attended I asked (wrongly so again) "Is it the 'hooker row' which bothers you?" He gave me a knowing look. I had guessed right.

Romans 14:13 "Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way."

Yes, I judged and did so wrongly, but it's best that others not be a stumblingblock to me, and that I not be one to others! We all need to be careful how we appear to each other because Satan uses US to distract OTHERS from the worship of Jesus.

Let's all get off that red carpet. That's for Hollywood starlets. They are getting their only reward right there. Our carpet is more durable and  more plain. It's a narrow path which is entered through a narrow gate. It's lined with palm branches because victory is just over the horizon. We need to trod that carpet in meekness and servitude. We're to be asses in the sense that we carry the burdens of others. Rather than displaying our own clothes, jewelry and other apparel; victory is as if we are in sack cloth! Victory is in meekness, not extravagance!

Truly "the meek shall inherit the earth"; the advent of kingdom of God, but it won't be on a red carpet!