Enough About You
Robb Hadley
4/22/98
Enough About You, Let’s Talk About Me
I received another card pack today. Perhaps you haven’t seen one. It’s junk mail for preachers—about a hundred 3-by-5 inch cards, each one an advertisement for a product or service aimed at ministers or churches.
One of the cards advertised personalized pocket calendars. On one side of this product is a beautiful picture with a matching Bible verse. One the other is a calendar for 1996. For $36, I can order 500 with my name, address and phone number printed above the calendar. The slogan enticing me to order was: “Pocket calendars that will promote you for a whole year!” (On the card, the word “you” was printed in bright red italic letters.)
I’m wondering how big an item this will be. I know nothing about the company which placed the ad; I harbor no ill will toward it; but I hope there aren’t that many preachers out there so interested in self-promotion as to make that sales pitch successful.
Jesus knew about our desire to have our accomplishments recognized. In Matthew 6.1, He said, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.” Sadly, we sometimes go past mere public practice of good deeds to mount a public relations campaign trumpeting our achievements.
I suppose our attempts at self-promotion are rooted in our desire to be loved and appreciated. The sad thing is, when people hear us saying, “Enough about you, let’s talk about me,” just the opposite results.
One of the most beloved celebrities of the 20th Century was Jack Benny. He assumed the stage persona of a vain cheapskate who often maneuvered others into becoming a captive audience to the violence he perpetrated with his violin—hardly a lovable character. The secret to Benny’s success? Self-deprecation. He poked fun at his fictitious foibles, and allowed those who worked for him (and everyone else, for that matter) to do so. Once, in a sketch where he was being mugged, a thug held him at gun point and demanded, “Your money or your life!” The audience, sensing where this was going, began giggling. Again the thug said, “Hey, Mac, I said, your money or your life.” Benny replied with perhaps the best punch line of his career: “I’m thinking it over!” The result was the longest sustained laugh from a studio audience in radio history.
If you seek the approval of others through self-promotion, you will probably receive, at best, polite applause from them; you will definitely receive strong disapproval from God. But if you want true acceptance from others and the Creator, “humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.” (James 4.10/RSV.) That kind of promotion will last long after 1996 calendars are obsolete.
—ROBB HADLEY
Fayetteville, Ark.
