Numbers Game

I think blogs are weird. I sit and write to no one and hope someone will magically happen upon my page and critic my thoughts. I also think the concept of using my day to follow others is odd.  It’s creepy to waste time scrolling through the lives of people I haven’t seen in thirty years. Yet it is amazing how much of my day I can waste doing it. This is our culture. We live in a society of modern day voyerism but not voyerism because people proclaim it openly for me to see.

What is even more odd is spending time writing a public blog that no one may ever read or follow to read again. If I was just blogging it wouldn’t be so bad because writing isn’t really the time issue, it’s the formatting and figuring out pictures so the site doesn’t look as technology incompetent as I am that takes so much time. With blogging, my life becomes a number game. Who I am following becomes less relevant then how many people are following me.

My husband has a tolerance of the kitchen being less then clean as I start this because he wants to be encouraging, but encouragement has a time limit. If in three years he has lived with a neglected house and my mom is the only who cares to read this I think I’ll hear, “it’s time to stop the blog and just pick up the phone.”

Life really isn’t about who is following me but who am I following.

This blog isn’t about me or believing I have found the answers to life and want to depart them to you. (Of course the irony of writing a blog which needs followers to continue but writing about don’t follow me is not lost on me. )The truth is nothing about me is worth reading or following. I haven’t done anything worthy of an autobiography or a t.v. show. My life is mundane, sweep, clean, vacuum, dishes, laundry repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat….That’s why my blog isn’t about me. It’s about who I follow and who I follow is worthy of following.

Paul defines himself not by how many follow him but by who he follows.

I was reading through the book of Acts in the New Testament and was struck by Paul’s defense before King Agrippa. Paul had been  arrested in the temple in Jerusalem after three missionary journeys. He had quite a following by then. In our days, this trial would have dominated the news and headlines. Paul would have naturally drawn a crowd to defend him on cable and in the streets outside the courthouse. In our society of followers, the masses of his followers might have persuaded the verdict. His lawyer could have called on some big names as character witnesses. Paul never mentions any of this. Paul speaks exclusively on who he followed and how it affected his behavior.

He was a born a Jew.  He lived his life according to the strictest party of the jewish religion, a Pharisee. Paul followed the law fervently and passionately followed the teachings of the Pharisees.  These people and rules he followed defined his behavior during this time of his life. He was so zealous for his religion, he persecuted anyone following Jesus. He put them in jail and stood by them as they died. However, he is not in jail for being too religious or unjustly  imprisoning others. He’s not in jail for exciting a riot leading to death.  He is just letting the jury know his background information on how he followed rules and hated those who didn’t follow those same rules.

Then Jesus appeared to him.

Jesus calls Paul to follow Him. Jesus charged Paul to be His servant and witness. And Paul obeyed.

In obedience as a servant to Jesus, Paul proclaims not his popularity or previous perfect Pharisee life.  His one defense is that he follows Jesus. His being a follower of Jesus put him in chains. Yet he never calls on his fans or for character references  to help get him out. His life at this point was about who he followed and who he followed was all he needed.

As Paul’s life shows, who we follow has an impact on our lives. 

Who Paul was following affected his behavior. In the first part of his life hunting down and killing followers of Jesus fit fine into his zealous convictions. Once he was radically changed by the one he hunted, he allowed himself to be put in prison and eventually killed for being a follower of Jesus. Just like Paul who we follow affects our thoughts and our thoughts direct our actions and our actions become our way of life. Sometimes people use the word “worldview” to describe how they see things. It’s a way of saying I follow this set of beliefs that define the choices I make.  Now days that lines gets blurred more because we might follow a celebrity who we have admired in the movies or a band or a reality star that doesn’t come from our same view point. There is a difference between enjoying a movie and or a song and following someone. A follower as defined by Merriam-Webster’s is someone who tries to imitate another, one who likes and admires someone very much, one that follows the opinions or teachings of another, one in service of a another. I like the way this is laid out. It’s easy to cross over from admiring someone to becoming a follower of them. It happens when we enjoy someone’s talent and cross over to being persuaded to their opinions. We can read, scroll through, and enjoy a variety of people but those we follow will help shape our attitudes and actions.

I’d love to have you come back and read another day. It would be great to hear from you or have you subscribe to my site. But read my writings, don’t follow me. Know that if I write this and no one reads this or many do; my life is defined not by who follows me but who I follow. I chose to follow Jesus Christ, born of a virgin, fulfillment of every Old Testament prophecy, holy and innocent He died on the cross for the sins of the world, defeated satan,  first born of the dead, ruler of the world which every knee will bow before, and my savior, my comfort, my love. He who is worthy to be followed.