How Many Followers Do You Have?

In today's world, dominated by social media, it seems that so many have the priority of how many "likes" or "followers" they have. The other day I was looking at my Instagram feed (yes, I'm on social media) and I saw a post from someone saying "have you ever noticed how so many S4S accounts never change how many they are actually following"? And the comments that followed were about how to so many people it was only the number of followers or subscribers they had, not about the content that was being produced. By the way, for those of you who don't know, S4S means sub for sub. The gist is that if you subscribe to them they will in turn subscribe to you. Anyway, the point being, why are people subscribing? Because they care about what you have to say or because they want you to subscribe back so they can have more followers?

This all brought me to, well why is it so important to have so many subscribers (followers). I could be wrong, because honestly I didn't do any research on this, but it seems that the more subscribers/followers you have the greater your chance of getting recognized by others? I don't know, just speculation on my part. My point being, why is it so important for so many today to be recognized or acknowledged by others?

A lot of people may want to believe that this is a phenomenon of today's society but in actuality this has been around since the beginning of time. Not social media...wanting to be recognized. It all has it's roots in pride. This can be traced back all the way to the Garden of Eden when Eve was tempted by Satan to eat the forbidden fruit so that she could have the knowledge of God and see things as He sees them. Satan got to her through pride...basically saying to her ego, hey He's not any better than you, He's just trying to hide things from you, and if you do this you will see that! Lot's of paraphrasing on my part going on here, but the lesson is Satan was tempting Eve through her pride.

Genesis 3:1-7 New International Version (NIV)

 

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, ³ but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

That is the same thing that is going on today. Not with all people mind you, but for some people it is just about being able to say "hey look at me I have more followers than you" which makes them feel, in some way, more important. It's actually kind of sad to think that having a larger number after your name makes you somehow feel more significant.

Now, I have to admit, when I first started my YouTube channel, just a couple of weeks ago, I woke up to find I had 17 subscribers and I was shocked. I know, I know, 17 whoopity doo dah!! My point is, I was shocked that even more than two people would be interested in anything I had to say. It does kind of give you an ego boost, but we have to keep it all in check and remember, our mission on social media, and in life, should be about producing information and doing things that are helpful, beneficial, and uplifting, and pointing people to the Truth....not just on obtaining some number. If we are joining the social media ranks just to accumulate numbers and recognition then we need to examine our motives as to why. Are we trying to prove to ourselves or someone else that we are just a good as them? or better than them? or do we have some void in our lives that we are trying to fill? Are we trying to prove we are good enough? Good enough for what? or who?

The most impactful person in the history of the world was and is Jesus. How many loyal followers did He have? Eleven!!! I know, I know, some of you might say, no there were 12 disciples, or no what about the thousands of people who listened to his sermon on the mount? No, I'm saying his loyal followers! Those who went everywhere with Him and eventually gave their lives for Him? In the beginning He chose 12, but one of them, Judas, turned his back on Jesus because Jesus was not fulfilling the pre-conceived notion of what/who Judas thought he should be. Yes, eventually Judas realized his error and was so wrought with guilt that he actually killed himself....and that left 11. Eleven true and faithful followers who, because of their dedication and belief in Jesus, listened to Him, trusted Him, and did what He said to do, and the world was forever changed.

These people were not perfect. They all had flaws and made mistakes, just like we do, but the one thing they all had in common was that they believed and trusted Jesus. Their goal was not to get more followers than the next. Their goal was to get the true message out because it was truly a matter of life and death. They wanted to reach as many people as they could to change and save lives, not just so they could say "Hey Peter I have more followers than you!"

So my prayer today for me, and hopefully for you also, is "Father, let me always honor you, and Jesus, with my words and my life. Let me not be distracted or concerned with the number of people following me, or with the number of subscribers I have, but be totally focused only on the approval of one, of You! Let me not be concerned with the number of my "followers", but instead be focused on being the best follower I can be. A follower of You. A follower of Christ!" Amen!

I pray you are a follower of Christ and I wish you a blessed and beautiful day.