Table of Contents:
Who do you follow?
Do you follow celebrities, sports people, etc? Who do you think is great?
Perhaps it’s a singer, or an actor.
What is it about them that makes you want to be like them?
A lot of the attraction for that person can be due to all the advertising and hype.
They become amazing because of all the publicity they get on TV, on the internet and in the magazines.
Generation Z and Millennials follow celebrities?
Gen Z’s ties to online celebrities are clear—especially compared to Millennials…
YPulse [1]
Three in five follow online celebrities/creators on social media.
The majority of both generations follow online celebrities (defined as bloggers, vloggers, YouTubers, Instagrammers, social media stars, etc.) on social media, but Gen Z is more likely to do so, with 60% of 13-18-year-olds saying they follow them versus 54% of 19-37-year-olds.
That’s more Gen Zs than follow Hollywood celebrities, musicians, or athletes.
When it comes to what kind of online celebrity they’re following, Gen Z is also more likely than Millennials to follow social media personalities, gamers, fashion bloggers/vloggers, beauty influencers, and aspiring musicians…”
Why unfollow celebrities
There are many voices telling us how to live our lives, but who do we believe.
Is there any truth in the newspapers, internet, and even the Bible?
I like Zulie Rane’s blog on: “Why Celebrities Aren’t Worth Your Follow: The psychological reason you should unfollow all celebrities on social media.” She says:
We’re surrounded by rich, famous people who have nutritionists, dietitians, personal trainers, hundreds of dollars’ worth of daily skincare routine products, airbrushing, and plastic surgery, nearly none of which they show to us on their social media.
Zulie Rane’s blog [ii]
It’s unachievable, but invisibly so.
We feel like we know everything about them, so we believe if we just stare hard enough, pay attention for long enough, believe with enough gumption, we can be like them, too.
Even though our brains know better, that doesn’t stop us from staring and hoping that we could be like that too, if we could only crack the code.
Pair that with the highlight reel of social media: people only post the good stuff about their life.
You won’t catch an influencer telling you about their raging diarrhoea — you’ll only see the gorgeous shots of a holiday on the beach.”
Jesus a celebrity?
But what publicity machine did Jesus have? …
He didn’t have the TV, Web and magazines. But people still followed Jesus and are still following him.
As of the year 2020, Christianity had approximately 2.38 billion+ adherents out of a worldwide population of about 7.8 billion people.
‘Christianity by country’ Wikipedia [iii]
It represents nearly one-third of the world’s population and is the largest religion in the world…”
Jesus said: “Follow Me.”
Okay, many didn’t and others followed for only a short time.
But don’t you think that it is surprising that anybody followed Him at all?
Imagine going up to people and saying “follow me!”
How many would follow you or me – probably none!
But there was something very special about Jesus, something very different about Him.
And that caused different reactions to Him.
- They either hated Him.
- Or they followed Him.
Why was that?
- It was because Jesus didn’t say wrong things
- He didn’t do selfish things
- He didn’t have cruel, or proud thoughts.
How come?
Because He is the Son of God – He’s perfect.
Caught red handed!
Imagine you are a little child and your mum has made a wonderful, tasty, iced cake celebrating Christmas and it will be eaten on the next day.
Then, when everybody had gone to bed, you creep down in the semi darkness.
And you try a little piece of it, … and then a bigger piece.
Then your mum suddenly turns the light on! You’ve been caught!
What do you do? You either:
- hate her for turning the light on and catching you
- or, you say you’re sorry!
Lives laid bare
His perfect life was like a bright light.
People felt that their lives were suddenly laid bare before God.
They only had two choices, either:
- they hated Him for exposing their sin (their wrong things)
- or they turned to Him and asked Him to forgive them.
Nothing has changed, we all now have the same choice as them.
Those that followed Jesus then, and those that follow Him now, love Him.
The reason is because He is the only One who can forgive our self centred lives.
If we willingly follow Him, He becomes our new Master, and our Lord.
Do you want to be a follower of Jesus Christ?
Many people are victims of fraud.
Many millions of pounds are spent on Charity executives – check out these popular charities.
Unfortunately, there are a number of Christian charities that spend a lot on executives.
References:
[i] YPulse
[ii] Zulie Rane’s blog
[iii] ‘Christianity by country’ Wikipedia
Walking image: thanks to Serif ARTGallery CD