Recently, a well-meaning (but off target) lady approached me with the words, “You are a great influencer. How many followers do you have?”. Completely taken aback, I gently set the record straight and stated in no way at all am I an influencer. God, and God alone, is the soul and soul influencer mankind needs and is to walk behind. In fact, I claim no followers but, rather, am, myself, a follower – a follower of God.
Even a quick glimpse of our world must bring sadness to God in heaven. So many of His creations have fallen prey to lining themselves up with the opinion of worldly influencers over aligning themselves with the truth and guidance of His Word.
I, personally, think the time for wanting our children, grandchildren and, in some cases, great grandchildren to have it better than we had it is over. Instead, we need to hope, pray and make sure they have it as good as we had it. Think about it. No, we didn’t have smart phones while growing up, but we did have a family circle that listened to our needs, encouraged our faith and ability to reach our God-given dreams and, above all, asked God to be our influence and to lead us to be His follower. In comparison, a smart phone is a pretty dumb substitute for the influence of a God-centered family.
Americans are obsessed with keeping up with worldly influencers. What we need is to be challenged and convicted to keep up with being a follower of the Good Shepherd. For this to happen, we need to sideline wanting our children to rank as worldly leaders and begin a full court press to have them identify as being a follower of God. Let’s stop striving to tower over the masses and brag about our young people ranking above the crowd and start, on bended knee, begging God to enable us to turn our family (regardless of age) from wanting worldly influence to seeking to be Divinely influenced.
“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ,” Galatians 1:10 (ESV) “…We must obey God rather than man.” Acts 5:29 (ESV)
Uplifted in a Broken Down World 