The False Facebook God
" I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. "
– Exodus 20: 2-4
This past week, the Lord asked me to go on a "Facebook" fast… At first I thought, no problem of course I can do this God. Then I realized this is kind of hard. I am away from all my friends & family and this has been my main way to communicate back home. It is going on 1 week of not logging onto Facebook & I have come to some realizations. So many people have set up this false idol or God…and the name of it would be the ever popular social networking site.
I know it sounds so silly & some people do not abuse it so I am not talking to you…I am talking to those of us who as soon as we get online, we log onto Facebook…
Oh my gosh…What if I can't
*Update my status?
*Check how many "likes" I have?
*Check my Inbox
*Post pictures of what has been happening?
*Chat with my friends
For real…This is what we have come to…
Don't get me wrong, I love being able to communicate with people half way across the world… & I love being able to so quickly share pics, and I love sharing my thoughts through an updated status. However….There are some people who have this lame co-dependency on it. When we put ANYTHING before God, we are creating an idol. That can be any of our desires, wants, or even needs.
It becomes a problem when we don't use alternate forms of communication. It's about intentionality. Not about a quick hi here or there, a comment on a photo, or a "like" on an updated status. I have started to prefer Skype or e-mail as forms of communication while on the World Race, because they are intentional. Of course face to face, real contact with people would be my #1 way to communicate. Therefore I have realized that maybe, just maybe, the creator of the Universe has me where I am for a reason. To communicate with the people I am with. To be where I am.
Our God is an intentional God who gives us his time. We need to extend that intentionality out the people we love. Some of us have gotten to a point where we have forgotten how to communicate. Living in community on the World Race has helped me to recognize intentionality with people. Really taking the time to talk to someone and ask them how their day is. Really understanding what building each other up in Christ looks like. Every day I try to ask myself how I can be an encouragement towards those around me…It's about where our focus is. When we talk to someone, what is our true intention? Is it for personal gain or attention? Is it truly because we want to extend our love for them through the love God has for us.
I know some people reading this don't like what I am saying, or they will probably just deny the reality of idols and false God's. I think it is good to do a personal assessment of anything we have before our savior. Before Christ, the one who through love, let nails penetrate his bone and flesh until death. To take away our SIN, our stains, our inequities, and our blemishes. He died so we could live. Let's really LIVE. Be intentional in showing love, and live out that love. I would love to challenge you to not log onto Facebook for a while & I just focus on intentionality.
Let's give our hearts back to the ONE & ONLY true God. Let our ultimate desire be for Him and Him alone. Let's be love and live out that love.
hey hey (Just for laughs)
