Am I popular yet?
10-12 Do you think I speak this strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or curry favor with God? Or get popular applause? If my goal was popularity, I wouldn't bother being Christ's slave. Know this—I am most emphatic here, friends—this great Message I delivered to you is not mere human optimism. I didn't receive it through the traditions, and I wasn't taught it in some school. I got it straight from God, received the Message directly from Jesus Christ. (Galations 1:10-12 The Message) I imagine we have all struggled with the idea of being "popular" - being part of the "in" crowd. In school, we'd look at certain groups of girls or boys, see how they dressed, looked at the way they did their hair, listened to what the talked about, and then what did we try to do? For some of us, we tried to "fit in"! If we have a tendency to be "followers" by nature, we want to "bend" to the whim of the crowd we are with....