Written By Ben Dankaka
Meditation – Mark 3:8
One of the most common trends on social media is the “follow me mentality”. Whether it is on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Twitter or LinkedIn, people seem to be obsessed by the idea of having a lot of followers. So we now live in a world where individuals rate their success in life by the number of people who follow them via their social media handles. There’s nothing wrong with having lots of followers. What just isn’t right is to desire to have followers when you have nothing or little to offer. People don’t just follow others because they like them. They follow those who are beneficial to them. It doesn’t matter if it’s online or offline, people are inclined to follow those who can help them.
You’ve probably observed that Jesus often had crowds following Him wherever He went. One time, Jesus withdrew with his disciples to a lake. Then a large crowd from Galilee and from many other regions followed Him. These people weren’t invited by Jesus and His disciples. According to the scriptures, they decided to follow Jesus “when they heard all he was doing” (Mark 3:8). This means, if they hadn’t heard what He was doing, they wouldn’t have bothered to follow Him. Most likely, Jesus wasn’t followed by crowds until He launched His ministry. Prior to that time, the Bible didn’t give any account of crowds following Jesus. But when He began to preach and perform mighty miracles, they followed Him without being forced.
If Jesus hadn’t served others with His gifts the people wouldn’t have talked about Him. If He hadn’t done something worth talking about, large crowds wouldn’t have heard about Him. To become a person of influence, serve a lot of people with your gifts. If you want to have a lot of followers, become a person of value. Social media and all other media platforms can give you an opportunity to pull crowds, but if you really want to get people’s attention and possibly gain a lot of followers, become a person of value.
Prayer: Dear Lord, teach me how to be a person of value. Amen.
REFERENCES/FURTHER STUDY: Luke 5:38-42; Mark 3:7-8
Unless otherwise stated all scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version.