Crowd Following
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.” (Colossians 2:6-7)
Everyday there is some kind of poll I hear or read about that tells me who prefers what, who, where, why, or how. For example, during the pandemic when schools were doing eLearning, there would be frequent inquiries of the general public about what the preference was: In-person, hybrid, remote, online academy, or other?
Or, it might interest you to know that 74% of Americans prefer cheese on their hamburger.
Of course, businesses and institutions use information about what people want and don’t want to dictate how best to deliver their information, or predicting profitable product lines, determining sales strategy, and even what items should be more prominently displayed in their stores. That makes sense. No one stays in business by offering something that nobody is interested in using or buying. Think 8-track tapes and transistor radioes. They once were the cat’s meow, but now they aren’t even rummage sale fodder.
Sometimes, however, a trend begins that doesn’t make sense, yet it gains momentum and becomes a preference. Think bell bottom jeans from the 70s that, unbelievably, are making a sorta comeback. Bell bottom jeans became the thing that in the day, even though they were uglier than sin. They were a fashion trend that teens and young adults developed a craving for. The flair at the bottom was cool! Looking back at it, I can’t figure out why bell bottom jeans didn’t catch on with the older crowd to help with the discomfort of and hide swelled ankles.
My discomfort, dare I say my uneasiness, grows out of the lack of rootedness that an increasing number of people have in this day and age about what makes sense versus a herd-of-pigs’ mentality that goes with the flow, even though the edge of the cliff looms ahead. Simply because the pig in front has the loudest voice, doesn’t mean that everyone should fall in line behind.
Our culture seems to be more driven by extremes than wisdom, more dictated to about what is politically correct than what is humane and compassionate. The lack of rootedness creates an openness to all kinds of ill-guided weeds. My backyard is a good analogy of crabgrass gone wild. It’s to the point that I’m having a hard time deciphering what’s the bluegrass that I seeded in the ground a couple of months ago and the crabgrass that has butted into the natural. The less attention I give, the more the crabgrass muscles its way into the lawn.
Jesus has become a planter instead of the plot, a mention instead of the Messiah. And, quite frankly, a decreasing percentage of our population know Him, or even know what He taught or how He changed things. His teachings about treating everyone with respect, loving the unloveable, and identifying the faults each of us has before focusing on the failures of others are jaw-dropping to more and more people who think of Him as the baby we sing Christmas carols about and put on our new Easter dresses and suits because of.
People are more influenced these days by social influencers and YouTube videos about Minecraft tricks than they are the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
If my generation fell for bell bottom jeans, how gullible are we to accepting the next off-the-wall nonsense of the lead pig on the edge of the cliff?
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Words from WW Blog 
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