Whammo! the preacher says with enthusiasm. And a hundred listeners are so impressed that the new catch phrase is born.Now its on T.V. and circulating in the church, people are staring at their eggo waffles and shouting whammo when it pops up. Ok, no big deal. Only it is a big deal, the ripple affect of our copy cat ways does affect us, in ways undetected.
I begin to see more and more why the Lord calls us sheep. Sheep are such docile creatures and their tendency to follow who ever seems ahead of them, is compulsive. Even if its right off a cliff.
We to do that. We are like a herd of white sheep, and when one individual black one stands out in the crowd, our little ears perk up our mind fastens on, and before you know it, we bah bah bah, just as that black woolly head before us did. How does it affect? Well for starters, it affects our individuality.
Maybe we don't perceive why that is important. After all we have heard that immitation is a form of flattery. Well I suppose it can be, but at some point, its not flattering, its ridiculous. When our actions mimic so closely someone we are impressed by we lose our own identity. We begin to copy and mimic what is not us at all, and in that falsify moves, and manners we say are about God. Are you seeing why that could be bahhhhhd?
Imagine if David had tried to wear the armour sported by his larger peers. His small gangly body disproportioned to the adult males wearing such gear, would have sunken in the weight, hampered by the trappings that so well fit another. It was NOT for him. He needed to be free to do what he was best at. If he had worn the armour he for sure would have missed the mark and Goliath would have been on the ground rolling in laughter rather than awaiting the axe .
Imagine if Elijah would have followed the peers before him when facing the evil rulers of his time knees shaking , and mouth dry, calling out, Whammo! catch phrases do not impress evil, nor do they deter it- at best they offer a good laugh to the advisary and frankly if I am going to face a foe, I dont want him laughing. Just an FYI..
Rather than do as the peers before him had done -Elijah held fast to HIS OWN faith in God, listened to Gods instruction for him and followed it to a T. Fire came down,and remarkably- not because he said fire fire fire!!! like all the other preachers he had heard before Him but because the hand of God moved individually in him and through him.
Today sincerity is greatly lacking in our peer groups-And we have fallen prey to copy cat behaviours. So much so that we are ceasing to follow as God leads, and choosing to copy what was affective for someone else, that my friends is like wearing ill fitting armour, and we need to understand why it would hamper us. Our effectiveness, is most powerful when we heed what God lays on US .On our hearts, in Our minds and spirits- not what we see him doing that is effective for others. He didn't call you to be a mini me in ministry, he called you to be HIS OWN.
The harsh reality is, we are discrediting Gods ability to move in and through us just
as powerfully, and if we really want to be seen and heard for who God
is in Us, we need to move away from the herd mentality, and start acting
like we ourselves have HEARD His call-
Our noses have gotten far to use to the tail ends of others and it is high time, we start sniffing Gods fresh air!!
Our mimicking has reached such high proportions that catch phrases fall off our lips like favourite movie lines, and we repeat and repeat and repeat what we do, and what we see done. The world looks idly by, and shakes its head, as if to say, " Yet another reason Christians are considered hypocrites, they cant even be themselves" and its true. We don't know how to be the kind of Sheep who are truly following the Shepherd.
My Friend,God does not want YOU to be a carbon copy of me, or the well known preacher, or your pastor even,He doesn't want you to be like the vocalist in your church, or your beloved mother, He has called you to Rugged Individuality. Pursue your Bahhhhhhd self, and find out what Good YOU can do for God, by being the best EWE you can be. Your the head and NOT the tail, EWE need to act like it!!!!
