I described a person I knew to someone else and said, “They are a very important person to me.”

Then it hit me: that is what every Christian should want to be.

The temptation is to become known to everyone. We call that fame. Every person knows my name, possibly my face, and some of the work I have done. It sounds appealing.

Yet, everyone can learn about you, and your life still feels like it has little value. Don’t believe me? Google “celebrity suicide.” So many famous people felt empty enough to take their own lives that Wikipedia has to categorize them by year and alphabetically.

Fame does not make people happy. Significance does. 

And you cannot be significant to a large group of people effectively. It only happens in small groups and individual relationships.

Only a few people may know your name, which is okay if those people see you as having a significant role in their life. It is far better to be important to a few than popular to a lot.

Who sees you as an important person in their life?