Pride

Whenever I was away from the house for a bit and then came home, I always asked the kids if Ed McMahon had called when I was gone. Of course they always said no, and until I explained it to them one day, they never had a clue who Ed was or why he should call. They and their generation are way too young to have known Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon and the Tonight Show. They never really knew about his spokesman role for Publishers Clearing House and the prize patrol. Audrey sent me a text the day the news broke about Ed McMahon passing away. She said, well, he won’t be calling now for sure.

As I thought about this week’s topic, and how I was going to approach it, I started thinking about the role Ed played on the tonight show. I wondered how I could somehow use that in some kind of analogy of our lives as Christians. I know, I stretch the limits of my brain into often uncharted territory, but that’s me and how I do things.

Of course Mr. McMahon had his personal life, his hobbies, his goals, and his family, but on the Tonight show, his entire function and goal was to never draw attention to himself but to always make Johnny look good. He wasn’t to be in the spotlight, he was to always keep the audience and the focus on the Host. There was never room for personal pride or boasting as the sidekick. He introduced people to Johnny in his patent intro, Heeeerrrrrrrrrreesss Johnny! And then Carson ran the show.

Isn’t that what we should do as Christians, bring the attention of others to focus on the real leader? When people of our generation thought of Ed McMahon, they automatically thought of Johnny Carson. My point is, when people think of us, shouldn’t they automatically think of the Lord? Our lives should point them in that direction. Do people think of Christ, or what a Christian is, by our not taking pride in our selves but rather exuding who the Lord is in our lives?

1 John 2:16, For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

There is a Home Improvement chain here in the north that Mary and our California friends probably haven’t heard of, called Ziggys. They have a jingle in their advertisements on TV and Radio that is impossible to not sing along with when it comes on. You just do, you can’t help it. Ziggy’s Ya Ziggy’s. And how many of us have never emulated Mr. McMahon’s intro of Johnny. We just did, it was just one of those things.

Pride would be, drawing attention to ourselves and our deeds and thinking that it's all about us. We don’t have a jingle or catch phrase to introduce people to the Lord. What we have is our lives. We are the front man. Will people automatically think Christian, in a good way, by your introduction?