I'm a follower

I broke open my new study of the Kings of the Old Testament and began to read the "Preface" introduction page.  Right away, I scowled at the first sentence.  "We were created to follow."  "Yeah, I'm not sure about that," I thought.  I'm always excited to start a new Bible study with my sisters.  That is absolutely true.  I love God's Word.  I love time diving in it together with other sisters.  But here I was only one sentence into the Preface of the book and realizing that I had already had a bad attitude about the study.  Was the study of a bunch of really old Jewish Kings and the pathetic, idol-worshipping people who followed them really going to speak to my life today?  I wrote in the margin of the Preface... "idea of following others so foreign to us today." Then I closed my study book, and decided to do something really spiritual.  I logged onto my computer and started scrolling through Pinterest.

As I stared at the pictures of food, craft projects, stylish outfits, and home decor, my eyes drifted towards the top of the web page and fell upon a little red rectangular button that said "follow."  I literally burst out laughing.  There it was.  God's little message to me, asking me if the idea of "following" was really as foreign as I thought it was.  Then I started thinking about all of the people that I was "following" - the friends on Facebook, the strangers on Instagram, the celebrities on Twitter, the creative peeps on Pinterest, and on and on and on.  At this point, the message was so clearly ironic in it's landing right between my eyes, that I didn't even try to argue that this type of following was different from the King following of the Israelites of the Old Testament.  Message received.  I am a follower.

So now, computer closed and back to the Preface.  "We are all influenced to follow someone or some idea, and we influence others in the same way."  Yep, there it is.  Whether or not I like it, I am following.  And whether or not I choose it, I am leading/influencing.  As I finished reading the Preface of the study, a smile cracked across my face.  Oh Lord, all this from just the Preface?  What do you have for me, for us, through the rest of this study?  A little bit of perspective sprinkled in with a healthy dose of life transformation?  I'll take it.

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."  2 Timothy 3:16-17

Desiring to follow God alone,
Amy