Have you noticed that we humans often tend to act like sheep?

That may seem a strange analogy, but I have been thinking a lot about this lately.

The last two books I have been read have really set me thinking on this and a few other topics (which I will share with you in the next few days).

For example:
When there is a decision to be made that affects a group of people including you, how do YOU tend to decide?

• Do you tend to follow the crowd (taking the easy road)?
• Do you stop and think the situation through for yourself and make a decision that may or not be the “popular one”?

The Sheep tends to be easily led: Yes it is so easy to take the “easy way” and go with the crowd no? I am sure that you have been caught in this trap at least once in your life.

Here is a question:
Just because a decision is the most popular, does this mean it is the RIGHT decision? You are probably saying: “Of course not!”.

Yet how many times have you heard someone defending their choices and consequent actions with the words: “Well everyone is doing this these days”. Hmmm, so that makes it right? Isn’t that like building one’s house on the sand?

The famous French poet and writer Anatole France (François-Anatole Thibault) is quoted as saying:

That is rather obvious – yet profound statement.

There is an interesting verse found in the Bible that goes like this:
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6

Doesn’t this verse describe peer pressure perfectly? (And I highly recommend that you read the complete chapter of Isaiah 53 where this verse appears).

Yes, sheep do follow each other where ever the leader will lead them. For the most part, they do not “think for themselves”

I was brought up in a sheep country, where we there were 3 million people and 60 million sheep. (Today the statistics is more like 4 million people and about 40 million sheep). So I have a good idea of the ways of sheep

The Lion on the other hand is a leader.
There is a reason for the lion being known as the king of the forest. Neither the lion nor the lioness will blindly follow the other animals. They DO have a “mind of their own”. They are usually the leaders not the followers.

The lion is always used in stories as an example of the voice of authority. Anyone who has any voice of authority is someone who is able to think for themselves.

Today’s challenge is:
Do you tend to go with the flow or are you able to think for yourself?

Note:

• Those who have learned to think for themselves are folk who have a habit of reading non fiction books, analyzing what they read and applying the appropriate principles into their own lives.
• They hence have come to some definite informed decisions about what they believe.
• Their mindsets are not just founded experiences, but on truth. They have a solid foundation for their lives and they are not tossed around by every wind that comes their way.

Remember the Parable that Jesus told about the two houses? One house was built on the sand while the other was built on the rock.

You can read it in Matthew Chapter 7:24-27

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Where are you building your house (your life) – on the rock or on the sand?

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