11-27-11

Are You a Cow?
Cougan Collins

Cows have a tendency to follow the herd without giving any thought to where they are going. Unfortunately, many people are the same way. They find someone to follow and give little thought to where they are being led. Sometimes people are led down the pathway of drugs and crime. Other times people are led down the pathway of prejudice or pride.

Blindly following someone is not a good thing. God does not want us to be cows, He wants us to use our brains and think. He wants us to be aware of what we are doing and what the consequences of our actions will be. There is only one safe path that we can follow that will lead to heaven (Mat. 7:14) and it comes from following in the footsteps of Jesus.

We must be careful that we do not allow ourselves to be like a cow and simply follow the herd that we are in. We must always allow God's Word to be our guide (Prov.
Are You A Cow? (continued from page 1)

3:5-8), even it means going in a different direction than the rest of the herd.

Far too many people have simply remained in their denomination because their parents and grandparents were part of that herd. They never lift their heads up to question what is being taught, they simply follow the herd even if what they are doing is not authorized in the Word of God. Many innovations have been added to the worship service that God never intended, which is vain worship:

"And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."
- Matthew 15:9

If we want to be pleasing to God, we must rise up from the herd and only follow our shepherd Jesus. He is the only one that can lead us to heaven, and He is the one we must trust. If we love Him, we will obey His commands (John 14:15) even if it means doing something different than what our parents and grandparents did.

The question becomes, are you willing to put God's Word and what it clearly teaches above what you have blindly accepted as the truth from following your herd? The apostle Paul had to do this. He was a devoted Pharisee (Phil. 3:5) who thought he was doing the right thing by trying to destroy Christianity. It took Jesus appearing to him on the road to Damascus to make him stop following his herd (Acts 9, 22, 26), but he was able to see the truth and became a fighter for the truth. Once Paul stopped following the herd of the Pharisees, he understood the importance of following Jesus and His Word.

"Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment."
- 1 Corinthians 1:10

The only way we can have true unity and not be divided into denominations is stop following after manmade herds. The Bible only speaks of there being one church/body (Eph. 4:4). My challenge to you is to stop blindly following your herd. Instead, see if you are following the New Testament without adding to or taking away from it (Acts 17:11). If you are not, leave your herd and find those who are. It will not be easy to do, but if you want to put God first, a change must take place. If you would like to learn more about the church you read about in the Bible, then come worship with us because our goal is to be New Testament Christians—nothing more and nothing less.