Friends and Followers

If you use more than one social media platform, you will have friends and followers. These people get to see and read all the things about your life that you are willing to share. Read an interesting article? Share it. Had dinner at your favorite restaurant? Post photos of the meal. Heard a juicy piece of gossip? Direct message your contacts. Someone having a birthday? Write on their wall. There is something immensely gratifying about sharing the things that matter to you and having others affirm them right away.

For celebrities and social media influencers, friends and followers are like gold deposits to be mined. They share personal pictures and videos in hopes of getting enough views to transform their content into thousands or millions of dollars from advertising revenue. Their lives are a brand, and they eagerly use it to promote a lifestyle and sell merchandise so their friends and followers can be like them. The more friends and followers who buy into their brand means more financial profit for these influencers.

Jesus’ views on friends and followers are very different from what we see in our online spaces. Far from enriching Himself at the expense of His friends and followers, Jesus Christ nurtures within them a profound sense of caring for one another and leads them to the fulfillment of God’s unique purposes in their lives.

First, there are three things Jesus says about friendship in John 15:13-15 that removes it from being the one-sided relationship of today’s influencers. In real friendships, there is a willingness to put others before yourself - love (v. 13). Friends have the best interests of one another at heart so there is no fear in following their direction - trust (v. 14). There is an openness among friends that allows truth to always be embraced - honesty (v.15).

Secondly, Jesus never expected His followers to be just like Him. We can never be a reduplication of His identity because there can only be one Savior. We are to be imitators of Jesus Christ to the degree that as He did, we too must be consumed with the fulfillment of God’s will for our lives (John 4:34). By following Christ, we access the knowledge of God’s purposes for our lives. When we choose to prioritize that revelation and discipline ourselves to the pursuit of holiness, we get the privilege of living the lives God has destined for us (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Which sounds more engaging: to be friends and followers of social media influencers or with Jesus Christ? One supports a self-centered and indulgent lifestyle that benefits only the object of admiration. The other gets to invest in the lives of others, and experience the fulfillment of their divine purpose. I choose to be a friend and follower of the Savior.