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We are living in an escalating digital era which makes it quite easy for many to question their identity and lets them get confused about their purpose. In my Master’s thesis, I explored the impact of celebrities in politics, I found among other things, that the global (popular or pop) culture is driven by a small group of individuals (celebrities) who set the standards of what perfection is and what it means to be cool. Unfortunately, many, if not all of us, fall victim to these demands of society. Moreover, the increasing use of social media, which (in my perspective) has been escalated by the recent global pandemic, has left many people worse than they were before. Now more than ever, (almost) everybody wants to be a celebrity (in some way or another) and be able to influence a group of people. As a result, many crave validation and there is a constant need to gain a following in all aspects of life. Unfortunately, this is the world that we are living in now! Many of us seem to have forgotten that our validation should only come from God and not from people and that likes and followings do not matter in God’s kingdom, they do not define us or our purpose. In 2020, I found myself deleting almost all social media (except for some that I really needed like WhatsApp and LinkedIn). Initially, I did it because I needed to protect my mental health state by shutting down the noise and opinions about COVID 19 so I could focus on writing my thesis. It was driving me nuts! I had found myself in time-wasting arguments and discussions (that did not benefit me) about what was going on globally. I have got to say, my social media break taught me so much about myself and about God. It allowed me to redirect my efforts to something bigger and better, God!

Don’t get me wrong this media evolution is a very powerful tool that can be used to do a lot of good things such as, achieving your purpose, spreading the gospel, fundraising money for the needy and even as a source of income, etc. I also know that it is a transition that God had in plan before we were born, so it is not a mistake and man is not in charge here. I believe that this evolution is necessary for God’s kingdom to grow. We can see that because of the digital era, the world has become so small. and easily accessible. Therefore, I believe that this gift of social media that God has ushered us into needs to be approached with wisdom and understanding. We need to be able to use social media and be careful not to let the social media companies use us instead. Therefore, because everyone is struggling to compete for public attention in the media (with the celebrities driving the popular cultures of the day), we have become accustomed to a world of copy and paste (which can negatively impact our God-given creativity). Moreover, there is a constant need to compare ourselves to other people and their accomplishments. Be it in the way we communicate, our faith, our prayer lives, how we run our businesses, what we eat, how we behave and even our dress code. Most importantly many of us seem to be confused about who God is, what to do in our walk of faith. We are confused about what God has called us to do/be because we are busy paying attention to cultural expectations. We are not sure about how to be good Christians, good wives, good teachers, religious leaders, etc. For instance, because many are not sure about their purpose or identity, they find role models on social media and instead of learning from their weaknesses, their strengths and understanding their true life stories, they just copy the the actions that these role models showcase on social media and paste them into their lives. They forget that there is more to what we see on the surface, that everyone is hiding some part of themselves from the public. What is sad is that we are intentionally or subconsciously ignoring what God is calling us to do and who he wants us to be because we are busy copying and pasting other people’s lives.

Do you relate to any of the above? I definitely do! That is why I chose my favorite sermons of today which address the issue. The two timely sermons are from Pastor Steven Furtick (PSF). The first one starts off with a warning in his title, “Be Careful What You Copy” and the second is titled, “Copy That!” In the first sermon, he employs a scripture which-to the naked eye-may not seem relatable. Nevertheless, his ability to relate its content to the contemporary era captured my attention. According to PSF, the writer of Hebrews 8: 3-7, expresses his concern for the deteriorating quality of faith of the Israelites with each passing generation since Moses. That is, that from the time of Moses, as each generation transferred their belief and knowledge of God to the next, the quality of faith dropped. PSF believes that this is simply because of the error in copy and paste. He illustrates this using a cassette tape. He contends that when you make a copy of an original and then continue to make copies of the different duplicate copies, the quality of the content drops. If you have ever watched a pirated movie, this would make perfect sense to you. If not, imagine I go to the cinema and use my phone to record a new movie (original copy) and after I show it to a friend who then records my copy with their phone, and they also let another person do the same thing, this going on and on. It is noteworthy that long the way, you can expect many other factors to affect the quality of the different copies of the videos such as the quality of the different phone cameras and the posture in which the phone is held.

In Exodus, God made a covenant with the Israelites through Moses. He also asked Moses to build a tabernacle (place of worship) which was to be a “copy and shadow of what is in heaven” (Hebrews 8: 5). God instructed Moses to build it according to the patterns shown to him on the mountain (original copy). However, in this scripture, God has introduced a new covenant brought by his son Jesus, a high priest above all, which people were having a hard time accepting. PSF argues that the subsequent generations after Moses had reduced the quality of God’s image, his instructions, the form of worship, and taught it to the generations after them (we see this in the books of Judges, 1 & 2 Kings, Chronicles, Jeremiah etc.). People had forgotten what God had done for them, the culture he designed for them and lost the meaning of their purpose. I personally relate with them. See, because of the different life experiences (factors that affected the quality of their faith), such as, famine, drought, wars, and being taken into exile, each generation and family made changes to the copy of the covenant, and to the image of God etc. given to them. By the time Jesus came to save them, the Scribes and Pharisees had duplicated God’s image and turned him into a burden (see Matthew 23: 1-12). The people rejected what Jesus was offering them, his grace, which was meant to save them from a life that kept them as slaves to the law. God was doing something new in their lives that they were not open to. Therefore, PSF believes that we need to be open to the changes that God is bringing us into. We need to avoid getting stuck on old traditional and religious acts framed by those before us and avoid copying new cultures which may blur the image or copy of God that Jesus ushered in. He says, “be careful what you copy from the culture around you that keeps you from discovering the kingdom within you.”

Furthermore, his second sermon, “copy that” employs the scriptures Hebrews 13: 7 which says, “remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.” This calls upon us to be observant and to seek wisdom, knowledge and understanding. We need to always ask ourselves, is the faith of the person I am imitating manifested or showing up in their way of life now or am I just copying blindly? In addition, PSF also acknowledges that, “sometimes you have to be something that you’ve never seen.” For instance, some of us have to be fathers, wives, Christians, mothers, etc. with nothing to compare it to. This means that you have no clue how to do somethings because you never had a role model show you how to, you never had a dad, a mother, a stable family that could be your reference point. Therefore, when you find yourself in these seasons, you start to copy what society is telling you, thinking that it is the right thing to do. Instead of doing this, we are encouraged to look to scripture to guide us. PSF urges us to meditate on God’s word in each season of our lives so that we can find out what he is asking us to do. I mentioned that God is responsible for this social media era, he created man and man developed it. Therefore, since he created the inventors and placed you in this era, believe that he alone can show you how to navigate through it.

The second scripture that PSF uses is from Matthew 4: 1-10. This is a popular scripture about the temptation of Jesus by the devil in the desert. He believes that we need to emulate Jesus and quote scripture when the devil attacks us. According to him, the devil is not very creative. He still tempts us in the same way as he tempted Jesus. That is, through the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the love of the world. Therefore, if we are not careful to learn the word of God, we will have no weapon to fight against the devil during his attacks. PSF asks us to copy Jesus and to copy the faith of those before us whose outcomes we have considered to be righteous. These sermons are personally pushing me to practice Jesus’s line in my prayer life. For instance, when the enemy attacks my thoughts, I now look for the word of God and say “It Is Written…” I tried it this week and it was surprisingly very effective in helping me redirect my mind back to God. You can try it too.

Lastly, do not allow yourself to conform to the world, PSF calls upon us to invest our time in learning the word of God and in our faith. Yes, you may be going through a tough time and the enemy may have you thinking that this is some sort of special experience that no one has ever gone through. I am here to tell you that many before us in the bible (including Jesus) went through the same staff we are going through. We don’t have to copy and paste their reactions and mistakes but we can learn from them. Consider their faith and how they achieved their outcome. The more I learn about people like David, Ruth, Esther, Joseph, Mary Magdalene, Paul, Mary, Jesus and his disciples, etc. I find that we aren’t that different from the generations before us. There is a lot of content to rely on in various seasons of our lives. This word was preserved for us for a reason, therefore, we need to constantly be aware of what God requires us to do in each season by reading it. God has created each and everyone of us for a purpose here on earth and he constantly takes us through certain seasons (just like the one we are in right now) to drive us to his big purpose. We are all part of the big picture, just like those before us were. Exodus 9: 16 says, “but I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore, instead of trying to be like other people around you (who may also have no clue what their purpose is), allowing culture to influence your image of God, you have to stick to following God‘s instructions through his word and not to allow anyone to frame him for you. PSF also tells us not to stop at his sermons, but rather, to go further and find out more about God on our own. This is called a personal and intimate relationship with Jesus. We should aim at finding out who Jesus is for ourselves, and aim to do life how God wants us to, not how culture says we should. This means rejecting the world patterns. According to PSF, if those before you have no good outcomes from their way of life, choose to do it different and break the chains that bind you to their actions and behavior. Trust the Holy Spirit to guide you. Do it God’s way!

Here are some scriptures to encourage you today:

It Is Written;

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3: 5-6)

“Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse,who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways, who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.” (Proverbs 2: 12-15).

“I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14: 6

With love and prayers,

Resty Kansiime

Here are today’s sermons