Followers

I have a new toy. A smart phone. I waited for over a year to get it. I now truly understand the phrase "there's an app for that!" One of my apps for my new toy is Twitter. Now, I had signed up for Twitter on my computer before, but I was not nearly as plugged into it as I am now, being able to hit a box and have it just pop right up. It is too fun to follow people you admire on that thing. And I follow A LOT of people. Good people. Beth Moore (big shock), Liz Curtis Higgs, Priscilla Shirer, Angie Smith, Sheila Walsh, Steven Curtis Chapman, Jeremy Camp...you get the picture. For someone who struggles so mightily with putting well known people on pedestals, you would think I would stay far away from this one. Not so, my friend.

But I have been running into verses lately that I think are putting up a certain warning. Here are two:

Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord. Prov 23:17 NIV1984

Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. Jeremiah 17:5 NIV1984

I think these are pretty straightforward warnings. Don't trust in terrible sinners who are awful people and depend on them, right? That's easy to just skim over. However, what if we camp here a bit? "Do not let your heart envy sinners." Anyone on my Twitter list a sinner? The actual word for sinner in this verse is "hatta" meaning someone who sins habitually and is subject to the consequences of his actions. So maybe people on my Twitter list don't fall into that category, but I am taking a slight liberty here. Maybe the people I really look up to and admire are exactly that.

The Jeremiah verse hits a little harder, I think. "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD." Cursed? This word, "arar," is used in a sense of binding, hem in with obstacles, render powerless. Again, a little liberty here. Is it at all possible that by looking to my favorite Christian personalities and trusting in their experiences and witty one-liners that I am actually putting up a roadblock in my own walk? That I could actually be turning away from the Lord?

The other issue here is that we can sometimes get so used to getting our daily encouragement from the Lord in a 150 character quote or a blog written by a favorite author. And there is nothing wrong with looking at those sources in and of themselves. My day at times can be completely turned around by something like that.

HOWEVER, to get a WORD from the Word, you have to be in it. I wish there was a short cut way, but there is just no getting around it. Pull out the book (or the app. Couldn't resist). Read the words. Listen for yourself.

So, in my promotion of this blog as a place to get information for our Breaking Free class (slightly ironical, don't you think?), and a place to connect to other members of class during the week, I attach this warning. Please do not let looking at blogs and Twitter, even devotionals, replace your time in the Word with just you and God. It happens so easily. Or maybe its just me.