Pretty Pictures

Social media is great. I use it to keep up with family and friends. For the past two years, I haven't found it even necessary to turn on the news channel to find out what's going on around the world, I just open up Twitter! From things like engagements, weddings, births, even deaths, social media has found a way to connect so many people through the use of the internet and in a lot of ways, it has brought us happiness.

Lately, I have truly found out something more about social media that has revealed a deeper issue in myself. I log on Facebook and Instagram and realize that I'm a mess. This is true, due to my sin and my failures and my imperfections. However, I also log on only to see perfect people. I have realized that because of my covetousness that social media has began to make my heart suffocate almost every time I sign my username in.

What am I talking about? You know, the pictures of that one relationship that seems so perfect, right out of the movie, the Notebook. The family that has never seemed broken that posts the annual Christmas card cover photo every single year. The guy who always gets what he wants from life by doing little. The girl who won prom queen who has never seen a pimple in her life. Friends, we have mistaken the good life for the life we see in photos, videos, and blogs that seem perfect. Good relationships, families, and stuff like that aren't bad, but we want it so bad. I pray that we can realize that life and everything that it entails is not what we see on social media, and by the end of this I hope that even I can continue to learn that life is so much more that pretty pictures.

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I mentioned the word covetousness earlier and I'm sure that most of us do not know what it means. I surely didn't, I only knew that it was a biblical commandment, so it must've been important however, it may not apply to those living in A.D. The online dictionary defines the word covet as the yearn to possess or have (something).

So we see that it means to long to have something, namely something that you cannot obtain. A better observation of this term comes from the biblestudytools.com dictionary. It explains that: 

• Strong desire to have that which belongs to another. The tenth commandment forbids coveting anything that belongs to a neighbor, including his house, his wife, his servants, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to him (Exod 20:17 ). Jesus listed covetousness or greed along with many of the sins from within, including adultery, theft, and murder, which make a person unclean ( Mr 7:22 ). Paul reminded the Ephesians that greed or covetousness is equated with immorality and impurity, so that these must be put away ( 5:3 ). A covetous or greedy person is an idolator ( 5:5 ) and covetousness is idolatry ( Col 3:5 ). James warns that people kill and covet because they cannot have what they want ( 4:2 ).

So this is what I have been really struggling with lately. Not only covetousness but deeper than that, idolatry. Idolatry of people, relationships, possessions, or whatever else. I can't have it, therefore I want it. I long for it. I yearn for it. And social media has been the harbor for the ship of my selfishness. It has been the reminder that everyone else around me has a better life. It is the fog that makes me blind to what I actually do have, and what's truly important.

What's truly important though?

1. We are not what we have.

One of the main reasons why this issue gets to me so much is probably because of the realization that I have less possessions than my friends, a broken family, and more hardships than happiness in life. All three are lies and here's why: because of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. The world around us defines us by the things that they see that we have. I have been adopted into the family of Christ, where I am not only a son, but an heir. And because of what Jesus Christ has done for me on the cross, I am able to have not only happiness, but joy in that fact that I have a relationship with my Creator, the one who loves me endlessly and cares more about my soul than I do. Which leads me to the next point.

2. We are not worthless.

Because of the power of God and the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, I have been purchased by God for the price of His Son, deeming myself and every other believer worth a lot. The reason why we covet things of other people so much is because we, as humans, feel that we must fill our hearts with more stuff so that will make our value increase because in reality, we believe that we are nothing. That is the biggest lie that satan tells us. "If you only had a relationship that looked like that...If you only had a car that was pretty like that...If your parents would have never divorced...If you were only that pretty...If you this, if you that...." We can go on and on and on but, just as the devil questioned if God was enough to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, so he still temps us day after day, leaving our sinful hearts questioning if Jesus is really everything? We forget our worth and chase after things that will only leave us so empty. 

3. We have everything that we will ever need.

We really do have all that we need, and we are really okay. So what? You were born into a poor family and had to work your butt off to buy your 2003 Corolla. Who cares that you and your significant other have hardships that you don't believe that anyone else has to go through? Why not be content where you are in life and the money you make? Whatever you are dealing with when it comes to this issue, the solution is this: we miss the point or life. We miss Jesus. 

He gives us reason to breathe and sing and have joy. He gives us the ability to look past these fleeting things that keep us away from Him. Our identity is not in any of that stuff anyways, because if Galatians 2:20 is true, then I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me! So this tells me that I am not what I have. It reminds me that I am not worthless. It screams to me that I have everything that I ever need. Everlasting, unconditional love from a God who looks at me as blameless, and fellowship with that same God for eternity! Why covet an image when I am God's image?

As for social media...

This is not intended to be a blog-blast about social media, in the beginning of the post I addressed that social media has it's pros, and I am surely thankful of it! But for now, they do not exist on my phone because of my heart being prone to strongly want things that others have. Covetousness is a heart issue and needs to be dealt with.  I am keeping my accounts but, other than for a few exceptions, I will not be logging on for a bit.

As for the "perfect people" we see on these sites...

Comparison is truly the thief of joy. Don't believe the fairytale relationships and prosperity posts about how great and perfect life is! Jesus promised nothing but eternal life and suffering for those who follow Him (Matthew 16:24-26, John 15:20,  John 10:28). 

Pretty pictures telling pretty lies

Life is not perfect for anyone, and too many times we (myself being the biggest offender) are deadly prone to leaving the One we love and wanting to pursue the "perfect" life, relationship, family, and whatever else. And Jesus said to them, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one come to the Father except through me. John 14:6

Now, it will probably be good to talk to someone who loves you about all of this. I hope that we all can be free from the suffocating falsehood that social media brings to our hearts. Jesus is better than a perfect life, because through our imperfections, He perfectly loves us.