It’s the little moments like driving in the back of a truck with 16 people squished. Kids standing at the front and wind so loud you can’t hear anything going on. Blinded by the burnt orange sun setting so beautifully in between the mountains and the trees so tall and green that you don’t even want to blink because you dont want to miss a second. It’s moments like these when you aren’t worrying about what your hair looks like or how that shirt makes your arms look. No. Christian or not when you’re looking at something indescribable like the ocean or the Grand Canyon or anything that just makes you feel small; you’re no longer thinking about yourself. When seeing these things you have to know there’s something or someone bigger than yourself. But yet we’re STILL so fixed on ourselves. It’s not until moments like these when life is put into perspective.
We live in a society of: do what YOU want. Love who YOU want to love. Do what makes YOU feel good. No where are we taught to do what makes GOD happy. I think the root of a lot of sin is selfishness. Lust: you want to please yourself. Lying: you don’t want to make yourself look bad. Greed: you want more to make people envy you. God warns us against these things by saying, that we cannot follow the ways of the world while also following God (1 John 2:15). The world is teaching us all the wrong things, things that are totally opposite of what the Lord wants for you.
We tend to get so focused on ourselves and making sure that we are having a good time and totally forget who we are living for. I think this is exactly what satan wants. You don’t have to worship satan to fall into his trap. All he wants is to keep your eyes and thoughts on anything BUT God.
I believe a huge factor that plays into this is SOCIAL MEDIA. A side of it that I don’t think is heard much is the reason behind why we even post. I mean, why do you? To keep family and friends updated? To show people what’s new? Because you just look good in a photo? But if we go deeper into it I think a root of reasons why we post things is because we want other people to envy us. We want people to look at that awesome vacation we went on and say, wow I want that life. Or look at a selfie someone posted and make them want your body and your looks. Or show people that really hard college you got into to make them jealous of what you have that they don’t. I don’t think we go into posting things with these intentions. But I do think even if you don’t know it they could be implied.
To be clear, in no way am I condemning anyone. I am the queen of posting things that I think is cool or I think others will think is funny and little did I know that can lead to making others stumble. Making others commit sin is sin itself (Matthew 18:7). So even if my intentions are not to make someone envious of me with the things I post, that doesn’t mean that it won’t. I am not saying everything you post on social media is bad. I actually think it’s a great tool for spreading the gospel. Although, the line is thin and in Matthew 18:9 it says to get rid of whatever makes you stumble. Personally, it is really easy for me to post something that glorifies myself and not The Lord. So I am getting rid of all social media for lent & I think that could be a really great thing for anyone.
Not just because it can cause others to stumble but we say we don’t have time for God or we don’t have time to read the Bible yet we are on social media for multiple hours of the day.
We live in a busy society where being bored is frowned upon and not being with someone 24/7 is lame. When are we supposed to spend time with God if we are always busy? When is there time to use your imagination when every time you get bored you fill your brain with scrolling through your phone. This all goes back to my main point of how selfish we have become.
We are at the point where we have tried to play God in our own lives. God: can have a relationship with every single person on the earth and talk to them 24/7. Social media has let us stay connected with people from all over and even though you might not talk to them everyday you still know what’s going on in their life to maintain the friendship. God: knows the answer to literally everything. Google has made it where we can look up anything and everything at any given moment. We weren’t made to stay in touch with every single person we’ve even been in contact with or to have all the answers at our fingertips. God didn’t make us that way. He wants to protect us and He knows that we cannot physically handle to know all the things He knows and to maintain thousands of relationships. It leads to destruction, hints the highest epidemic of depression and anxiety our world has ever seen. We dont even need to rely on anyone anymore because we can find it all through our phones!
We get to have a personal relationship with the King of the world. Is that not enough? The God of the universe died for us out of love knowing a lot of us wouldn’t even love Him back. The very thought of this makes me want to just shake people and say how much they are loved and even if they dont ‘feel’ worthy that God died for them so obviously they are worth that! God pretty much had to shake me Himself and show me these things bc my mind was so focused on ME I had no room to find all the answers in HIM. We put too much on how we feel when God is way more than a feeling.
With all that being said I just want everyone to know that God LOVES them and to know that life isn’t as serious as we make it. The king of the world is for you and you are His son and his daughter. Thats all we can really rest in. I want everyone to know that our father in heaven wants to protect us by not giving us all the knowledge that He has because He is a gentlemen. I want to desire what He desires which is why I will take the littlest step as to delete social media for 40 days if that will help line me up more towards God’s desires. Jesus didn’t eat or drink for 40 days, give up something other than chocolate, yeah? My prayer is that whatever it is that it will refocus our eyes back on Jesus and off of ourselves. I pray that I die to my flesh everyday to lose more of myself and to look more like Jesus instead.
Romans 14:21
1 John 2:15
Romans 12:2
Mark 8:36
If anyone reading this wants to talk more in depth about all this I would love nothing more to continue this conversation with you! My number is 303-570-8895 ((:
Song: Dancing in the minefields
By: Andrew Peterson
Quick update: we leave thailand march 1 and are off to our last 3 months in Nicaragua!
Luv,
KC
