Today everyone is looking for something new. Technology development has given us a constant craving for the next best thing. Unfortunately, that has also redefined our concept of relevance. The relevance of the Walkman in the ’90s is no longer what it is today. The rate at which iPhones are being disregarded for their younger models has reached a feverish state.
But I have found that when it comes to actual human life – to interaction and development, relevance has little to do with what is coming up next. If you want to be effective in your relationships, trying to chase after the next best thing doesn’t work. The whole concept of peer pressure is as modern as the age of technology is. If you constantly need to “keep up” with whatever version of the Kardashians you have in life, then you are denying yourself from having an impact of your own. Placing yourself under full submission of people who probably don’t care about you as much as they should is probably one of the most dangerous ways to live your life.
So are you relevant? Be honest – no one has to hear your answer. I can say I definitely didn’t believe that I was relevant to peoples’ lives for a considerable part of my life. Social anxiety had all but suffocated me as a teenager. Being irrelevant – “under the radar”, people pleasing, fake in humility, and conversation – is sometimes easier than being relevant. But you will end up driving yourself into the ground while no one around you notices, because they have never known who you truly are.
So how do you become relevant? It is definitely not in trying to “keep up”. It lies in something quite the opposite: consistency.
I was recently on a breakfast date with my girlfriend where we ordered the American pancakes (don’t judge). I was having a great time until I took my very last bite, where a large unmixed ball of baking powder and salt exploded in my mouth. It made the meal a memorable experience for all the wrong reasons and I am not sure if I will ever go back to that restaurant.
The problem was not in the presentation of the plate. It wasn’t with the service, or the surrounding environment. It was that the pancake batter was not consistent. Its consistency was not consistent throughout. Some of the ingredients were not completely present in every spoonful, resulting in an uneven mixture that couldn’t be trusted.
When we as people are inconsistent in character and action, it is much the same. It doesn’t matter what we look like; it doesn’t matter what we say or offer; it doesn’t matter what environment we hang around – we won’t have the lasting relevance we were made to have. Consistency of self is constant. It means that “all of you” shows up to every conversation. It means that you haven’t compartmentalised your ideals, your character, your personality, or your gifts – that you are 100% you, 100% of the time.
Of course, this is completely impossible without help. I have always struggled when people describe themselves with the phrase, “What you see is what you get.” The problem with that is that everyone sees you differently. It is you and you alone who knows the state of your authenticity. But others around you will sense whether you are consistent over time – and that is the key to true relevance. In a world full of changing situations and fevered squalor, the consistent friend, the consistent leader, the consistent son or daughter, is where people will turn for comfort, guidance, and true change.
I have found only one way to truly be consistent. It lies in the foundation of how I live. Everything in this world will change. There is no person, situation, television show, technological device, or organisation that will not falter at some point in their consistency. But the Bible says that Jesus is the same always (Hebrews 13:8). The only way that I have found myself consistent – truly authentic – is by tying myself to One who is more real and authentic than anything else I will ever encounter. My relationship with Jesus has not only changed the way I see myself, but also the way I see the world around me.
If you are desperate to find the hope waiting in your situation; if you are longing to be relevant – memorable for the right reasons; if you desire to believe in yourself completely, then choose to believe Jesus. Click on the link below to find out more.