We realize we now live in a time where information is at a bloated state. Anything we wish to know is now at our beck and call. It’s like going to an all you can eat buffet but the idea is you sit still and the owner crams the food down your throat; even what you weren’t looking for is on the menu.
The innerweb is a remarkable thing. People read this blog on the other side of the planet. That is amazing to me. Yet, the internet is so bloated we dared not ask if it be pregnant. So, imagine the surprise when it birthed a whole new virtual life via social media. This little beast of a baby takes up a lot of room, and so much room we tend to nourish this fantasy facade more than we ought while neglecting our own good spiritual food. A cut off your nose despite your face kind of thing.
Social media is a place where we can live out an entire life without really living life at all. Or at least putting our best filtered life in front of the masses while neglecting to live our real lives before our neighbors. Jesus had something to say about that.
In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is preaching his magnum opus, the Sermon on the Mount. He concludes his listing of what is known as the Beatitudes, which are prefaced by “blessed are” by saying in chapter five verse sixteen, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (NASB). Letting the light shine is actually living a life before others in the flesh or in person if you will and not as a highlight reel for their news feed.
I say this because Jesus later in the same sermon says not to pray like the Pharisee or the hypocrites who love to stand on the corner for all to see for they already have received their reward (Matt. 6:5). There’s the facade, the front, the veil, the lie! The screen, the filter, and the highlight reel was even in Jesus’ day.
In our new cultural mandates to social distance, we should practice social discernment to distinguish the lives we actually live to that which we wish others would perceive we have on social media. In the same vein, we should also recognize the what the detriment of viewing the lives of others through the screened lens of social media is doing to us. We compare instead of practice contentment. We are more capable of shining our light before others when we focus on feeding it fuel instead of being distracted by the subtle dim flashes scrolling before us. We must live our lives before others as a guide on the path to the Light of Life, Jesus our Savior.
To be fair in the face of not becoming total curmudgeon, social media has its place and advantages. We know what they are of course, but we also tolerate the disadvantages too. Use it sparingly so to sow in it sparingly, but sow bountiful in your actual life so to reap bountiful therein. God bless you as I hope this is helpful to you this day we have been so blessed to have. SDG!