Who Do You Follow
When you follow someone, is that the same as imitating them? Is it a guarantee that those we follow, we imitate? Is it hard not to? Who do you follow, and who do you imitate? Are they one in the same? I’m a follower of Jesus Christ, and I also want to imitate Him. However, some of the people I follow on social media, I do not want to imitate.
Have you ever wondered how someone can profess to be a Christian and believe this or that? Or, how someone can profess to be a Christian and not believe this or that? What if those who believe differently than me are right, and I’m wrong? What if we are both right? Both wrong? For way too long I shrugged my shoulders and kept following that path of comfort and familiarity, and yet, only found frustration in the conversations.
I began questioning things that were not life or death or spiritually foundational. The Bible is clear enough on those topics for me to rest in His truths. But what about the “gray area” topics? They are things that cause me to choose one thing over another or to have a single-minded thought-feeling-action. Church, education, parenting, grand-parenting, friendship, health, medicine, and other topics flood our social media feeds with a lot of opinions. How could so many people be right about so many different topics? How can so many people be wrong? Eventually, I could not just shrug my shoulders anymore and move on. I began looking for books, social media accounts, podcasts, etc. to learn more about several topics that seemed to cause a lot of friction between people.
In 2020 when we all had tons of time at home, I began following people that looked different than me, had what appeared to be a different theology than mine. I searched for people with large followings that I would not have followed in the past due to differences. I listened to podcasts that talked about things that were different than I thought to be true. I read blogs and articles written by people that I probably would not choose to hang out with. I read books by authors that were controversial in my community group.
Guess what? Today, some of those people are my favorites to follow and learn from. I wish I could meet many of them in person and just talk over cups of coffee (or in my case, as you might remember, a Starbucks Pink Drink). I’m a better person because of their creative work. The one that stands out above all the rest is John-Mark Comer. Even though we probably align on many things, there were still enough differences that I knew I wanted to know his take on many topics. I read everything of his I could get my hands on. My two favorite books of his are Garden City and The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. His podcast, Practicing the Way, is one of my top favorites. I now Sabbath (rest) one day a week, because of his teaching. God used him in a mighty way in my life, spiritually. I have reevaluated the spiritual disciplines/rhythms in my life because of his teaching.
I went searching for things that went against my comfort zone and began following those different than me. I became more self-aware. I saw growth in my spiritual life. I judged less. In case you think I’m becoming too tolerant of foundational spiritual differences… Nope! Just the opposite. I now have so much more information from both sides of the coin. What I am, is more compassionate. My faith is stronger because we differ. My kindness is so much more wide-spread. I love differently. I stand stronger on some issues than I did before and will sit humbly with other topics and admit that I don’t know who/what is right. We’ll find out one day, and today, it really doesn’t matter!
I kind of doubt that when we get to heaven that there will be sections to sit in depending on how we believe! Think about it. Those of us who are heaven-bound believe that Christ died for our sins according to scriptures, He was buried, He was raised on the third day, and lastly, He appeared to many. So, all of us that have repented and know this to be true and believe it… think about these questions. Do we really think that women preachers will be on one side of heaven and men preachers on the other? Will those who were baptized by immersion get more gems in their crown than those who were baptized as infants? Will the vaccinated be on one side and unvaccinated on the other? Will republicans be in a room away from the democrats? I bet there will be a room for the charismatic believers and a room for the quiet worshipers. Just Kidding! We will all be at the feet of Jesus! So, let’s go ahead and start walking toward Jesus, together, today, right now!
Follow Him! You won’t be sorry!
