look up
"How many hours have I spent watching this shining TV, living
adventure in proxy in another person's dream? This challenging reality is
better than fear or fantasy. So take up what we've been given. Welcome the edge
of our days, hemmed in by sunrise and sunset. What if my whole life falls
apart? What if my life could be different?" - Sara Groves
Sometimes I
wonder what it is that brings so many people to the circle of social media for
so much of our day and week. It all seems like folly and a chasing in the wind
when everything comes to an end. Why do we exert ourselves over something that
really isn’t real life, real connection, or even satisfying to our hearts and
souls? There is a whole
world out there that is being neglected because everyone one of us are so
guilty of being into ourselves and the lives of others too much. Facebook has
allowed every single one us to take our lonely, hurting, hungering, and aching
souls into a realm of artificiality hoping to attain something to meet those
longings. But more than that, it has allowed us to become even more into
ourselves. When I think about it, we plaster our own lives on the hotline of
the masses, hoping for a like or two. “How many likes will this give me?” many
have thought, I have no doubt. We so desperately want to be accepted and liked,
but the truth is, we are loved and accepted by so many and by our Lord. The
whole idea of Facebook is, in many ways, a rather silly concept. The problem
with social media is that it's only a glimpse of who we truly are and
oftentimes only presents our life as immortal and leaves out the bend and break
of our humanness. We compare our lives to others and question why our lives
seem so hard and imperfect. The enemy wants us to believe that we are worthless
unless we are accepted on social media. We hide behind the screen and send the
cyber world the message that our lives are either completely good or completely
terrible. We are afraid to admit that it's okay to not be okay. We covet and
compare the lives of our friends and think that if our own lives aligned with
theirs than that's when we'll be good and acceptable. The truth is, no one's
life is as perfect as social media would have us believe, and we are already
acceptable in God's eyes. "Walking through a hall of doors, looking through
a million portals. Everyone is having fun. Everyone seems immortal....Are you
and I an apparition flickering up on the screen, sending out our best
transmissions waiting in our velveteen? Tell me you can really see me." -
Sara Groves
We have become obsessed with posting every moment our lives on there, placing such a perfection and importance level on something that will in turn, not necessarily matter one single bit when we have passed on and the earth is swept away. When each of us have met our Maker, will it matter if we posted our complaints about having to wait in line too long? Will our faith In Christ increase if we let everyone know how annoyed we are with the driver who cut us off on the way to work this morning? Is God impressed with how many pictures of ourselves we post? Will your life be complete when your life looks as perfect and good as Mary Doe's? Are you encouraging others by competing with the lives of others inadvertently on Facebook? Will you feel His love when you tear down or make fun of others? Will you be satisfied when you feel like your life looks better than your friends? Will we draw more to Christ through our political banters? Are we sowing redemption or defiance with our words? When will it be enough? How many posts do I need to make until I am the center of the universe? We have placed an unnecessary importance and value on the number of likes and comments our posts receive, and believe the lie that our own value and life are generated by these likes. These are questions that rise to the surface when I think about social media as a whole and what it is doing to our souls and hearts. I feel like as good as technology can be, it can also be the wrecking ball in our faith, relationships, and life.
We have become obsessed with posting every moment our lives on there, placing such a perfection and importance level on something that will in turn, not necessarily matter one single bit when we have passed on and the earth is swept away. When each of us have met our Maker, will it matter if we posted our complaints about having to wait in line too long? Will our faith In Christ increase if we let everyone know how annoyed we are with the driver who cut us off on the way to work this morning? Is God impressed with how many pictures of ourselves we post? Will your life be complete when your life looks as perfect and good as Mary Doe's? Are you encouraging others by competing with the lives of others inadvertently on Facebook? Will you feel His love when you tear down or make fun of others? Will you be satisfied when you feel like your life looks better than your friends? Will we draw more to Christ through our political banters? Are we sowing redemption or defiance with our words? When will it be enough? How many posts do I need to make until I am the center of the universe? We have placed an unnecessary importance and value on the number of likes and comments our posts receive, and believe the lie that our own value and life are generated by these likes. These are questions that rise to the surface when I think about social media as a whole and what it is doing to our souls and hearts. I feel like as good as technology can be, it can also be the wrecking ball in our faith, relationships, and life.
Mark must have
been a really lonely computer geek, because he has created something wonderful
and yet so, so ugly. We have forgotten what it means to communicate, to listen
to others, to learn, to create, and to feel the sun’s heat on our skin. We are
missing a whole beautiful world because we are looking down by the distraction
of being into ourselves and our friend's lives, into an online universe that doesn't necessarily carry weight on our
eternal souls. Will our world end today if we don't spend two hours scrolling our
newsfeed? Will tomorrow be delayed if we don't read everything our eyes meet
online? We are missing the smiles on another’s face, a person in need, the sun-setting hues at
the end of a day. The noises of technology are overshadowing the fleeting
sounds of a child’s voice and laughter. The fact is, we aren’t too busy to live
a simpler life, we are just too much into our social media worlds. We have
lost sight of the fact that our Lord and Maker fills that void and hunger
within our needy hearts. We don't have to pretend in His sight and He is never
far when we feel alone. If the sting of social media is hard to bear and leaves
you feeling lonely and obsolete, remember the One who knows you and always
accepts you. "And I know I shouldn't care if I'm out or in, cause if
I'm dismissed, oh You'll [Lord] always take me in." - Sara Groves
I’m not saying
to stop using Facebook, because there are positive things about it. But I
struggle with social media's place in my life and question its validity and
purpose. I think about the time that is spent on there and examine how
much of it is really benefiting our lives as a whole. God gave us a entire
world to live in, and wants us to develop real relationships with others, and
not dispel ourselves into technology, striving to find some eternal and
valuable good. You don't need to prove anything to anyone. You are enough and
are worthy in His sight. He sees you and knows the longings of your heart. Get
to know God more intimately and the people in this world. Our time on this
earth is precious and shorter than our finite minds will ever know. We were
created with the intention to commune with others in the flesh, not in the word
only. Look up today, and reach out to another. A smile can change
everything. Open your eyes and see a world with unlimited possibility and know
that the Lord cares about every detail of your life.
"O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise; you discern my thoughts from afar. You examine my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether...In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them." - Psalm 139:1-4 & 16
This should open all of our eyes to the world we've created for our younger generations. It is both scary and depressing scene how much technology is robbing our time from the bigger picture.
This post goes out to Sara Groves (singer-songwriter) and Esther Havens (humanitarian photographer) for their inspiration for this post and to live a fuller and more meaningful life in Christ.
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