No, I’m not writing about me being an influencer. I don’t wanna be. I know that sounds weird coming from a blogger, ’cause isn’t that why people blog? To get followers, and maybe nudge ’em in the direction of your thinking? (Or in the direction of your advertisers?)
And yeah, I’ve been writing op/ed pieces ever since high school, so I do frequently write with the hopes I might nudge people’s opinions in the same direction as mine. But I learned long, long ago that opinion pieces don’t actually do that. People never think, “Well gee, I don’t know what to think about this subject… so I guess I’ll go read a few articles by some strident partisans, and whoever’s got the best argument will win me over.” Never. Don’t kid yourself.
Generally they already have a trusted guru who tells them what to think. So they already unquestioningly think like she or he does, and anybody who says different is just plain wrong. Or they’re waiting for the guru to descend from the mountaintop with freshly-carved tablets, and refuse to make up their minds till then. Your average influencer dreams of being one of those gurus someday.
Or, on the other extreme, people don’t care. I’ve found that to be way more common.
So why am I writing? Because I wanna talk about following Jesus better. I wanna be part of the support system for other people who wanna follow Jesus better. You can take my advice, or not; you can take other writers’ advice, or not. Either way, if you’re gonna follow anyone,
But you shouldn’t be elevating any one Christian, or even a team of Christians, to the status of guru. We have one guru. Or as Jesus puts it,
Matthew 23.1-12 (my paraphrase)- 1 Then Jesus says to the crowds and his students:
- 2 “The ‘bible experts’ and the ‘devout Christians’ stand in the pulpit 3 hoping you do and observe whatever they might say. But don’t do as they do. They don’t practice as they preach.
- 4 “They strap heavy, hard-to-carry burdens on people’s shoulders. But they would never lift a finger to carry such things themselves. 5 All they do is for public spectacle. Obvious, showy Christian hats and T-shirts. Stylish Sunday-morning outfits. 6 They love being guests of honor at your dinners. They love to sit on the stage in your services. 7 They love to be greeted in public, and have people call them ‘the master.’
- 8 “You should not be called masters, for one is the Master, and all of you are sister and brother students. 9 You should not call anyone in the world ‘my spiritual father,’ for one is the Father, in heaven. 10 You should not call anyone ‘my spiritual guru,’ for one is the Guru, the Messiah.
- 11 “The best of you will be your servant. 12 Whoever promotes themselves will be taken back down to earth. Whoever themselves stays down to earth, will be promoted!”
You wanna be an influencer? You’re on the wrong track.
Infuencers and desperation.
I’ve known kids who desperately wanna be influencers. They used to want a giant following on Twitter, back when Twitter was a thing. YouTube and Twitch and Instagram are still things. TikTok has grown way bigger over the past few years, though a lot of governments and employers have banned the app for understandable security reasons. But Facebook is for old people.
I get why they wanna be influencers: You get to take photos or make videos, and lots of people will tell you they like ’em, and advertisers will give you money! And with that money, you can travel to lots of new places to take photos and make videos. Sounds like the easiest job. But those kids I know?—they’ll tell you it’s not the easiest job, ’cause you have to constantly try to come up with content, and constantly try to convince people to follow you. You’ll definitely spend more than 8 hours a day on the daily hustle. Too often you won’t make that much more than a burger-flipper at a fast food restaurant.
Unless of course you come up with something which goes viral. And it’s a lot of work to come up with viral content. Luck is way too much of a factor. Most of the stuff you think will go viral, won’t. Most people whose content went viral will tell you, “I never expected that to go viral at all.” My most viral post was something I wrote 5½ years before thousands of people began tweeting it at once. I don’t know what triggered it… and no, I’m not gonna try to duplicate it. If TXAB gets a flood of new readers that’s nice, ’cause I know I’m not shouting out to the void… but it’s not like I’m selling ads or anything. I have a day job. So I’m not trying to generate tons of likes, or pages of comment threads, or any more emails than I already get. I don’t do this for anything but love of my Subject.
I’m just trying to stay down-to-earth, like Jesus puts it. Don’t have to worry about a takedown if I’m not trying to be anything more than I am! Don’t have to feel miserable, or stress out, because I’m not getting the followers I so desperately covet, ’cause I don’t covet followers. I’m good. And if I get more readers, I’m good; and if I lose a bunch of readers (hopefully for the right reasons!) I’m also good. Paul learned to be content no matter the circumstances;
My advice to young people—not that any of ’em are gonna take it—is to focus less on followers, and more on being yourself. Do you like the content you’re creating? Do you enjoy making it? Is it no-stress, or nothing but stress? Strive for no stress. If it’s no fun, stop!—do something different. Don’t make yourself crazy, or depressed, or burnt out, or desperate, or willing to compromise everything you have and believe… all because you need the affirmation of strangers, who really don’t care about you at all, and only wanna put stuff in your butt.
Make content because you like to make this content, and you’re just sharing it. And if people appreciate it, great! And if they don’t, they can go elsewhere. And you stay sane.
And if you wanna get rich… well, sell everything you own, give it to the needy,
