So much of what we see on media today is difficult to determine what is real and what is fake.
The media can skew information a lot by slightly changing the wording to make it sound really far from the truth.
Photoshop can change a body and face to make a less attractive person turn the head of every onlooker.
On Facebook, we can have the appearance that a person’s life is perfect and they do fun things all the time, but it hides the reality of the other 95% of their life.
Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and whatever other Apps the kids are using now days are being used to show a hyper glamorous side of themselves that is so far from reality.
A picture can tell a thousand words, but it’s becoming harder and harder to tell what the pictures are really saying these days.
So often when scrolling through social media I see a false representation of what I know to be true.
I am guilty of this myself. I often take photos of simple things I see while I travel and edit them to get a “wow” out of people. If you saw some of the places/things in real life, it’s not as impressive as I make it look. I doubt many people would care to look at my pictures if they weren’t edited.
I have also done this with many of my profile pics as I want to display a side of me that I know people will like. If I posted a picture of me looking really tired, I probably wouldn’t get many likes. I’d probably even have people comment on it asking if I were alright and need prayer or something. But even though there’s a decent percentage of my life when I look tired, I don’t want that to be people’s perception of me, so I control it by posting pics of me smiling or doing something epic and fun. Currently my profile pic on FB is of a cool looking haircut I got while in Myanmar for $0.50. It looks cool, but it’s very edited and really not how I look most the time.
I love how we can express our creativity and artistic abilities on social media platforms. But I wonder how much people are just simply being creative compared to just wanting likes, hearts, attention and affirmation.
I’ll be honest, when I get lots of likes on a picture, video, blog or status update, it fills a void in me for affirmation. It’s a false filling of affirmation and it only lasts a short moment. Then it’s back again and I need to post another thing to affirm that I am a good photographer, editor, writer, story teller, funny person, preacher, etc… There are many titles I can use here.
I tell people all the time that there is a God size hole in each of us. We try to fill it with many things, but only God can ultimately fill it.
If my identity is not solely grounded in the Father, then I will try to affirm my identity by what I do instead of who God says I am.
Something I’ve been learning lately is that “I am Enough”.
I can do many things to change man’s opinions of me, but when it comes to God, I can’t change it. There is nothing I can do to make Him love me more and nothing I can do to make Him love me less. He loves me because He loves me because He loves me. I am totally and 100% accepted by God. He paid a price for me by dying on a cross and has adopted me not out of obligation, but by choice through His love and desire.
I am accepted by God!
Many people in the church have learned that we accept God and the work He has done for us on the cross. But it’s a whole other thing when we can get the revelation that God accepts us.
We no longer have to strive and strain to please Him. We are enough. We don’t have to work for Him. We are enough. We go from “Slaves” to “Friends” when we realize that WE ARE ENOUGH!
God is about relationship. He is a relationship within Himself and desires intimate relationship with us.
He invites us to share in the unity of God when Jesus prayed, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as We are One: I in them and You in Me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent me and have loved them even as You have loved Me. John 17:20-23
When we know that we are accepted, that we are enough, that we are one with Jesus as He is with the Father, it will change our lives! We won’t have to try to be accepted by the world. We won’t have to try to put on all the right makeup, clothes and jewelry. We won’t have to pick out the perfect profile pic. We won’t have to impress others with our words, grades, successes, achievements, etc…
When we know this truth deeply, we are changed and therefor can change the world around us.
Let these words be heard not from me, but from your Heavenly Father. Sit and let them soak into your mind, heart and spirit.
Child. You are Enough.
Child. You are Accepted.
I love you, because I love you, because I love you.
