Influencer

4/3/2021

Galatians 5:7-10 "You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? That persuasion does not come from the one who called you. A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough. I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty."

In today's culture, there is a new term for a person with social medial power. They are called "influencers". Most of the time, these people are quiet young, and they become infulencers after gaining a large amount of followers across many platforms. Tik-Tok is the newest video-based platform being used. All you need is a cellphone, a voice, and some very basic tech skills, and you too can say and do pretty much anything you want to. YouTube is still an important place to create content as well. Millions of people interact with this kind of social media every day, often spending hours doing so. I have fallen into the pattern of watching a YouTube video, and having that one lead to another until I have wasted too much of my precious time. Thankfully, this has not turned into a habit for me, unlike many other people. When I worked in a K-8 school a few years ago, the junior high students would often share with me that they would be up until the wee hours of the morning watching random videos. I am sure their parents thought they were sound asleep. These same students have now graduated, and are adults with the same habit firmly ingrained in them. 

This, to me, is very disconcerting. Not only are people making A LOT of money when they achieve a certain number of followers, but they begin to speak with authority. Unfortunately, much of what is being said is divisive, and furthers the issues we have as a society. We were slowly becoming a youth culture, but now the pendulum has swung to that side completely and it is dangerous. Now I am a person who believes that all people should be loved and respected, but I also believe that maturity brings wisdom. Oh, it is true there are some "old souls" out there who are wiser than their years, but most of the time wisdom comes with experience. I know that was true in my own life. 

What truly concerns me is that our youth are listening to hours and hours of unchecked opinion from people that they do not even know, and much of the communication, no matter how vile, can be done anonymously. Before we were all consumed by the world wide web, young people used to open books for knowledge, listen to teachers, parents, or pastors, and go to people they trusted for advice. Sometimes those people were peers, sure, but at least you knew that, even if they were as clueless as you were, they at least cared about you enough to try and do their best. Now we can all be subtly or overtly drawn into thought processes and ideologies by people we have absolutely no connection to, and who do not care at all about the impact they are having. Fame, and with it a platform, is something anyone can have now, and it is frightening to me.

What really concerns me is that we are no longer, as a nation anyway, being led or influenced by the single most important piece of media that has ever been produced, nor are we following its Author. All wisdom on every subject you could ever need an answer for is in this amazing tome. Of course, I am referring to the Bible, the inspired Word of God. For thousands of years, people have searched it for purpose, meaning, and truth. All you have to do is read the book of Proverbs to experience the timelessness of the the words within.

Sadly, we have been slowly pulling away from the Bible and our Creator. The other day I actually read a headline for an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times that went something like, "our current godlessness is actually good for the nation". Now to be fair, I could not open the article and read it fully, but the headline was enough for me to be shaken. Yes, it is clear that people are turning away from God, and that some of the people who are most vocal about following Him are off the mark. Believers, especially evangelicals (of which I am one), are often thought of as being synonymous with the far political right. They, as far as I can see, are just as judgmental as the far political left. There was a time in this country when both Democrats and Republicans were people of deep faith. Now religion has become a flash-point. 

I know that I want my only influence to be Jesus. If something being said - by anyone, actually - does not line up with God's Word, I will not heed it. The more I delve into the Bible, the more inconsistency I see in the movements of the world around me. We have, as a world and a nation, lost our center and our focus. Our country was founded on Biblical principles, which is why we had been the greatest nation in modern history. Clearly those days are behind us, unless we can turn back to God and live the way His Words tells us to live, with love, mercy, and grace for all people.  

Who, I wonder, is your biggest influence?