Who is your “must follow” on social media? Aside from family and friends? I’m a big fan of Nancy Lieberman. If you’re not a basketball fan you probably don’t know who she is, but in my opinion, all humans should know this amazing lady. With a career full of firsts, words like “legend”, “barrier breaker”, and “greatest of all time” are often thrown around when describing her (all very accurate, by the way), but I find her humility and lack of “flashiness” very inspirational. She came from humble beginnings and it’s those humble beginnings that obviously drove her to become the youngest US basketball Olympian at 19 and the oldest professional basketball player at 50 (yes 50!!). Every post from her elicits some form of an emotional response from me, from wowing at her (still) impressive skills, to awwing at the love she shows to the kids in the communities she builds basketball courts for, her posts always stick with me throughout the day. And even through all of that, her faith and trust in God shines through without a single mention.
On the other hand, I have a friend who follows all of the real housewives because she loves the drama. She’s also my most dramatic friend that I often find myself trying to get her to look at things from the other person’s point of view.
So as you can see, who you choose to follow can affect who you are as a person, that’s why choosing to follow Jesus is such an important decision. No, He’s not on social media, but if you study God’s Word daily, you’ll find that He will have a deeper and greater effect on your life than anyone on social media. Following Jesus means letting go of everything else so your focus is purely on Him. In Matthew 10:38 Jesus said that if we aren’t willing to take up our cross and follow Him, then we are not worthy of Him. In other words, hit that unfollow button on everyone else that you’re following and only follow Jesus. Or, just close your social media apps and open your Bible instead. Jesus is the ultimate influencer, so give Him your full attention!
For 2020 we’ll be studying “Sustaining our Lives Through God’s Word”, starting with following Jesus. It’s always a good idea to start with the basics and grow with a solid foundation. As we grow throughout the year, I pray that you are able to learn and apply it to your everyday life so that you too can influence others to follow Jesus.
As we come to the end of this year and decade, I’d like to thank you all for your support and encouragement. It’s been so much fun creating these guides for you and I’m looking forward to creating even more, including a yearly scripture writing program starting with the book of Genesis that I plan on releasing in the next few days.
In the meantime, I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a new year full of happiness and joy!
With much love,
Monica