If you want to be a follower, there's a countless number of crowds to follow. Political crowds, social crowds. Crowds with an agenda, crowds just wanting to have fun. Crowds going places and crowds just standing around. Sports crowds. Academic crowds. Religious crowds. Anti-religion crowds.
There are crowds for and against just about anything you can think of. Whether they be groups, circles, regions, populations, or just plain crowds. Stop and think about it. How many crowds can you name?
Be very, very careful.
Don't be a follower for the sake of following. Just because everyone else seems to be doing something doesn't mean it's right, or good. In fact, it very well may not be.
Matthew 7:13 says, "Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it." What's that mean? It means a whole bunch of people--a whole crowd of them--are headed for destruction.
Jesus was talking about salvation, but there is a broader application.
Sure, Jesus is talking about entering through the narrow gate to reach heaven. The wide path, with more people on it, leads to hell. I don't like to think that, but that's what the Bible says. This is the pattern of the world.
That pattern extends well beyond salvation. People are on all kinds of wide paths leading to destruction. Why? Because we tend to take the path of least resistance. We are much like sheep, or any other animal for that matter. Any hunter or hiker knows that game trails (deer paths, etc) take the easiest route. That's all fine and dandy until someone or something figures out that makes them easy to ambush.
The same is true of people. We tend to take the easiest path. If we meet resistance moving in one direction, we tend to change course until the way becomes easy once again. It's subconscious. It's natural. It's dangerous.
People go the way of sin because it's easy. It's easy to do what feels good, what everyone else is doing, what doesn't make us stand out. It's comfortable to be in a crowd, among other people doing the same thing. It makes us feel safe.
We're not.
There's danger in crowds.
Ever been in a crowd when you couldn't really see where you were going? You just followed, hoping the mass in front of you were going the right way, right? Lemmings do that. They all die. Buffalo used to do that also--right off a cliff.
I'm not saying we should be loners--that's not good either. What I'm saying is this: Know where you're going and what you're doing. Don't just follow. Use your head. You are not a stupid animal. You don't have to follow the crowd. God has given you intelligence--use it!
Crowds can, and often do, lead us astray. How many of the rioters in Washington DC would have smashed windows and burned cars if they weren't following a crowd? Probably none of them. Think about it.
Crowds can be good.
Thoughtful, meaningful crowds have changed the world. People have worked together and accomplished amazing things. Followers of Jesus Christ are a crowd. I'm one of them, and it's a big crowd. Not all crowds are bad.
Just be careful. Know what a crowd is doing, and why, before you join. Don't follow unless you know where they're going, and you're sure you want to end up there. Don't take the wide path just because that's where everyone else is.
It very well could lead you to destruction.
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