Why Fame Cannot Make You Happy
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | On Instagram, most of us are happy if 20 or 30 people
00:00:08.680 | like any given picture that we post.
00:00:11.480 | We're back with hip hop artist, Tripp Lee.
00:00:13.220 | And Tripp, some of your pictures
00:00:14.480 | go over 10,000 likes on Instagram.
00:00:17.500 | Social media stats like these beg us,
00:00:19.840 | just beg us to compare ourselves to everyone else
00:00:23.180 | and to quantify our popularity,
00:00:25.680 | which of course is pure vanity.
00:00:28.360 | So speak to nobodies like me about fame
00:00:31.360 | and particularly about this idea
00:00:32.960 | that popularity is the key to happiness.
00:00:36.080 | Speak to us from the inside.
00:00:38.040 | Yeah, I think that is one of the really dangerous things
00:00:40.880 | about social media is with all kinds of hearts
00:00:43.240 | and love and praise, man, it's always been that.
00:00:46.040 | But now, as you said, there is this kind of automatic way
00:00:50.260 | that I can at any moment know exactly what people think
00:00:53.440 | about what I just said, what I just did,
00:00:55.580 | or this picture that I just took.
00:00:56.800 | I don't have to wait or ask anybody.
00:00:58.720 | I can second by second see
00:01:00.840 | how many people think it's impressive.
00:01:03.080 | And from my side, as somebody who has
00:01:05.520 | a larger social media following,
00:01:07.120 | I think the main thing I want people to know
00:01:08.700 | is that no amount of likes really satisfies.
00:01:11.840 | There's no like, okay, when I get that 10,000 likes,
00:01:15.000 | that's when my heart is really satisfied.
00:01:17.200 | And we see principles like this in scripture.
00:01:19.920 | Solomon says, and I think it's Ecclesiastes 5,
00:01:23.000 | he who loves money will never be satisfied by it.
00:01:25.480 | And that's 'cause we'll always want more.
00:01:27.000 | You know, it's vanity, chasing after wind.
00:01:28.880 | And I guess you could really say the same thing.
00:01:30.800 | He who loves social media likes or retweets
00:01:33.640 | will never be satisfied by it.
00:01:35.260 | And that's because when our real hunger
00:01:37.680 | is for that recognition from man,
00:01:40.440 | then enough is never gonna be enough.
00:01:42.400 | You know, if that's what we really hunger for,
00:01:45.060 | there's never gonna be that magic amount of recognition
00:01:48.280 | that'll mean enough for us.
00:01:49.640 | My level of social media fame is laughable
00:01:52.580 | compared to others who have millions of followers
00:01:54.880 | and get hundreds of thousands of likes.
00:01:56.600 | But even they can look back to someone else in history
00:01:59.920 | who's more famous than them or somebody else
00:02:01.400 | on social media, and you know, it's an endless cycle
00:02:04.160 | of comparison and unsatisfied desires.
00:02:06.880 | You know, I can look at friends of mine,
00:02:08.880 | even who have larger social media following than me,
00:02:11.460 | and I look at them, and they still haven't reached
00:02:13.880 | some level of perfect happiness.
00:02:15.840 | And so I think we really have to fight that thing
00:02:18.140 | in our heart that wants to be satisfied by that.
00:02:21.180 | I can think of seasons where I've personally felt
00:02:23.820 | that I needed to step back from social media
00:02:25.680 | because I was liking the likes too much and the retweets.
00:02:29.360 | Because, you know, I would maybe tweet something
00:02:31.480 | and see a bunch of retweets, and it would give me
00:02:33.440 | this little burst of joy and satisfaction,
00:02:35.760 | and it would make me feel good about myself.
00:02:37.680 | And I was starting to see that that's what I was really
00:02:40.300 | kind of defining myself, or finding my identity.
00:02:42.880 | That's what made me feel valuable
00:02:45.000 | and worth something in that day.
00:02:46.640 | And when I don't watch my soul,
00:02:48.560 | I can feel myself getting really addicted to that,
00:02:50.720 | addicted to the praise of man.
00:02:52.280 | And it's really dangerous,
00:02:53.520 | whether it's on social media or at your job
00:02:55.880 | and in your family with your spouse.
00:02:57.240 | When we get addicted to the praise of man,
00:02:58.760 | it's very dangerous because that praise
00:03:01.120 | begins to dictate our decisions.
00:03:03.180 | We'll behave or tweet or preach or rap or whatever.
00:03:06.360 | We'll do it based on what will get us the most praise
00:03:08.920 | from men instead of what will please God.
00:03:11.200 | And that can happen really quick.
00:03:13.000 | And that can happen without us even noticing.
00:03:16.260 | And it kills our faith because that's where we start
00:03:18.740 | to run to for joy.
00:03:19.880 | And it really kills our obedience really quickly
00:03:22.120 | and desensitizes our souls.
00:03:24.040 | And we begin to reorient our life around the wrong things.
00:03:27.280 | So I think social media is amazing.
00:03:29.760 | But because we're sinners, just like in every era of our life
00:03:32.840 | there are things you really have to guard against.
00:03:34.400 | And that's one of them for me.
00:03:35.840 | Fear of man is a struggle for me.
00:03:37.360 | And so I always have to fight against that.
00:03:39.420 | - Yes, and how long are those seasons of pulling back?
00:03:42.360 | - Sometimes it would maybe be just a week or two.
00:03:46.760 | There was one time when it was a couple months
00:03:48.920 | where maybe I would still tweet, I would schedule them.
00:03:51.900 | But I just erased the apps from my phone
00:03:54.080 | so that I wouldn't be tempted to go
00:03:55.400 | and look at everybody's responses to my tweets
00:03:57.440 | and post at all times.
00:03:59.560 | - That's a really good discipline for us all
00:04:00.920 | to consider sharing, but finding ways to distance ourselves
00:04:04.120 | from the response stats.
00:04:06.280 | Thank you, Tripp.
00:04:07.100 | This has been "Tripp Lee."
00:04:08.040 | His latest album and book are both titled "Rise."
00:04:10.680 | You can find them right now at Amazon.com.
00:04:13.320 | And one of the great themes in the book is the love of God
00:04:16.360 | in his withholding things from us that would harm us.
00:04:20.440 | So how does our trust in the goodness of God
00:04:22.380 | relate to self-denial?
00:04:24.920 | I'll ask Tripp that tomorrow.
00:04:26.680 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:04:27.760 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast.
00:04:30.520 | (upbeat music)
00:04:33.100 | (upbeat music)
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