Ever Been Humbled?

Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human praise more than praise from God. John 12:42-43 NIV

 

It's all about the followers. Twitter, that is. While there are many social media blogs out there that will tell you it's not, to many, it really is about the number of followers. How many you have "determines" how popular, good, social, or whatever, that you really are. It's an interesting subject to say the least. It reminded me of the scripture above.

 

I've been pondering this subject recently. I have a couple of different Twitter accounts. For the uninitiated, Twitter is a 140 character social media website. Sign up for an account and just start "following" people. Following allows you to "connect" with people around the world, provided their account is open to the public that is. Some people choose to keep their accounts private, which means you have to get approved to follow them. Many in the public realm (i.e. celebrities, media) are in the public realm so you can follow anyone from Lady Gaga to Bill Cosby.

(Uh, no. I do not follow Lady Gaga. God help her. Every time I see her and look at her eyes I see nothing but emptiness. God help her.)



Anyway, I do have a Twitter account. Two actually but only one is related to this blog: @RSPSSunny. I'm not super active on it but active enough. It wasn't that long ago that I happened across a name on my "follower" list that intrigued me. I was intrigued because it wasn't an "ordinary" person, if you will. Without going into great detail or saying the person's name, let's just say I was quite surprised. 

Needless to say, I was also excited. Never thought a non-ordinary person would follow me. And then something happened yesterday that I found quite surprising. I did not see this person on my list of "followers" any more. I was taken aback. Why wouldn't this person follow me anymore? Did I do or say something to offend them? No, that couldn't be it since I had not tweeted much lately.

I know!!! (Or so I thought) This person only followed me so I would "follow" them. Happens all the time on Twitter. People will follow you. Wait for you to follow them. And if you don't, they will unfollow you. Or, my real thought, was that this person followed me, waited for me to follow them only to wait a short amount of time after following them and then unfollow me....all in the name of gaining followers. (Got all that?)  I did, so I unfollowed them.

Pretty pathetic looking back on it now but, I was pretty peeved yesterday about the whole thing. I even checked earlier today and did not see them on my list. This was a Christian after all! I knew this is what I would blog about here. Given my "emotional" state, I decided to meditate on it a little while longer. So, I waited. Until tonight. I even found a scripture verse for it (see above). I was just going to rant & rail........

and then I checked Twitter again.

The person is still there. I didn't believe it at first. I went through all kinds of websites today trying to figure out when the person unfollowed me. It irked me. But this person was there. And from everything I can tell, they NEVER unfollowed me! Oh good grief. How could that be? I just "knew" that they were not on my list yesterday. I was so sure of it. But alas, they are there. And always have been. They never left. They are still there. Following me.

Of course after reading this post, I may wind up losing all of my followers. =) I hope not. But, if so, I need to be okay with that. It's not the followers that should matter. It's who I follow...HIM...not the people on Twitter. If I worry about followers, or who I'm following, then I'm finding my value or validation in man and not God.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31 NIV

Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! Luke 12:26-28 NIV



Followers come. Followers go. My ultimate goal for Twitter is to have influence. Influence people to think. I may not always be right but I do want to challenge people to think, which I believe you can do even when you're wrong. Think about what you believe. Think about why you believe what you do. "Think" before you speak. "Think" before you act. Think about the Christian status quo.

Many in the American church, to me, feel like they are in the status quo. Too many of us American Christians in the American church look to man for validation and acceptance (how big is our church or how many people are on staff). Too many of us look to man to provide for our needs -- this include pastors too but I won't go there now (how much was the offering today). Too many of us "say" we don't want to be 'religious' or 'like that other church or denomination' when in actuality we really are (my way or the highway in leadership is 'religious' thinking in my eyes). Often times, what we don't "want" to be, we are.  

When I say too many of us, just know that I'm cutting in the line all the way to the front because that is me. It's in all of us really but it is me. I know, however, that if I deal with these issues, there are many others that are dealing with the same exact thing. I've been humbled by my own vanity this weekend. It was my prideful action that humbled me.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14NIV

Humble self. Pray. Seek His face. Turn from wicked (or I would say: selfish) ways. He will hear, forgive and heal.

Until next time,

RSPSSunny