Who are you following?

I’m a fan of social media. It’s useful for keeping up with family and friends, having group discussions, and recently I even bought a second-hand bass guitar through a Facebook group.

I have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and more, but the one I use most is Instagram. Almost every morning I post an image containing a verse which I hope will encourage one of the people who “follow” my account. And there are quite a few of them.

On Facebook, almost all my friends are people I know in the non-virtual world, but on Instagram it’s the reverse. Most of my followers, and those I follow, are people I have never met and have no other contact with. And that’s fine.

I follow accounts that are inspiring because of their content, whether scriptures or the beauty of creation, or to encourage people I come across who have very few followers. I hope that some of these will follow me in return, but it’s not because I want followers; it’s because I hope that by this means some may see a verse that will encourage them when they need it.

“Most of my followers, and those I follow, are people I have never met and have no other contact with. And that’s fine.”

Other Instagram users can see how many followers I have, but it’s really of no interest to me. What they can’t easily see is who I follow. I don’t get kudos for following celebrities and I’m sure that celebrities don’t care whether I follow them or not! (Most of them do care about the total number of followers, though!) And no one can tell who I follow by looking at my posts.

I follow Brian “Head” Welch from KoRn because he follows Jesus in the difficult sub-culture of heavy metal and prays for his fans at almost every gig!

Almost the only celebrity on social media that I follow is Brian “Head” Welch from KoRn and that’s because he follows Jesus in the difficult sub-culture of heavy metal and prays for his fans at almost every gig! Awesome! But I’m sure he has no idea that I follow him, and that’s fine too.  🙂

But there’s one celebrity with no social media account who I do follow, and if my friends and followers can’t tell that by looking at my posts then there’s something wrong.

In Acts 4:13 we read the following:

The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.

They didn’t recognize them as men who had a lot of knowledge, or who had adopted Jesus’ philosophy or way of life. They simply recognized these early disciples as men who had been with Jesus; they were his followers and it was obvious!

I hope that my “friends” and “followers” on social media and in the “real” world can also recognize that I have been with Jesus. (Note to self: it would be good to spend more time sitting with Jesus and without distractions; more like Mary than Martha.)

He’s the only one I follow that I want them to know about. He does know who follows Him, and cares – not for the number of followers but for each individual.

And my hope and prayer is that one day my followers will follow Him too.