Famous Like God

"I won’t be happy until I am famous like God.” Those are the words of the mega-superstar Madonna. They were not uttered at the beginning of her career or even as her fame was beginning to increase. They were spoken after she had accumulated about as much fame and adoration as is possible for a person. Madonna’s goal was fame, and she had achieved it so fully that she was quite possibly the most famous woman on the planet. Yet it was still not enough.

This perspective is far from rare among the famous. In fact, I think it is fair to call it the norm. Most who have achieved a large dose of the fame they are pursuing will tell you it is not all it is cracked up to be. They will tell you it is not enough and that it is not a source of joy in the end. If that is true, then why are we still so drawn to fame? If those who have it tell us it does not satisfy, why do we still want it?

Would it shock you if I told you we are drawn to fame because we were created for it? It is true. We were created for fame, but somewhere along the way—somewhere right near the beginning—we lost sight of true fame. We confused the fame we were created for with the fame that can be gathered unto ourselves. We confused the fame our souls long for with the one our human flesh craves. This human fame—rooted in a pursuit of “public estimation” or “popular acclaim”—is an idea that consumes many of us in one form or another. We are a society thoroughly absorbed in the idea of persona. Platforms, likes, and influence are accepted measures of success. We live for the sound of applause and the adoration of the crowd. We pursue many things, but dare I say nothing with as much vigor as the allure of personal fame. We hear the words of the famous telling us that this fame is not the answer, and yet it still draws us.

…You, too, were created for fame. You were created to be a partner in greatness and a mouthpiece for power. You were given a deep longing for things that transcend this world and for a title of royalty. Yes, you have been called to fame. But, like me, you are not called to this kind of fame by the world. It is not the fame that surrounds us. It is a fame with the power to right every wrong and heal every wound. It is a fame that causes the righteous to celebrate and the wicked to tremble.

It is a fame that neither you nor I can fully fathom. That is the fame for which we were created. But before we give our lives in pursuit of it, we must unlearn the fame we know—the fame that pursues us with dangerous intent. We must reject a pursuit of the fame that will not satisfy until we are like God and take up a pursuit of the fame that actually belongs to God. We were created for fame but not our own. We were created for so much more. We were created for the fame the prophet recalled. We were created for the fame of the almighty God.