Follow the Crowd.. Or Don't

Have you ever heard the words "follow the crowd?" When a large group of people is moving in the same direction, a single person going to opposite way is not only likely to be bumped and bruised, but they could potentially stir the crowd also. Knowing these two facts, most of us choose to just move with everyone else out of sheer convenience.

Now, let's twist this scenario a bit. Let's say the crowd is modern society, the entire population of oh how about a college campus. After examining this crowd you realize that most of them enjoy hardcore partying, drinking, fooling around with several members of the opposite sex, frequent cursing, and claim that what you do on Earth doesn't matter because there's not really a god out there. Okay, so then let's take a look at the people going against the crowd. There are the people who disagree with the typical "college party life." These people flee from those sinful activities and run to God. They don't know where they are gong because they can not see over the crowd, but they run nonetheless because htey know of God's love, His grace, and His promise for a better life in heaven. They run because they have faith. Hebrews 11:1 says "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

When looking back in the crowd, you will see several "Christians" who aren't running against the crowd. Perhaps they are afraid to be different or to disturb the flow of motion. Perhaps this is the way they've always gone when they aren't sitting in a pew on Sunday. I feel that several of us are these people because of fear. Fear of being and outcast, fear of losing friends, fear of losing a status. Well guess what. Every possible reason we could com up with for going with the crowd is worthless and irrelevant. Hebrews 11: 13 states, "All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And the admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth." Did you get that last part? These people of God in the Old Testament embraced the fact that they were outcast, straying from the crowd. They knew that no earthly pleasure would compare to the glories that awaited them in heaven. Because of this they stood out, they lived by faith, and they walked away from the sinful nature of the crowd. As Christians, we are set apart and called to serve the Almighty God and to spread his word throughout all the nations. This task requires going against the current.

Today, I encourage you to turn away from the crowd. Let everyone see that you are running to God.