Social Media was designed to be a platform to bring the world together, to unite the world so that global communication could be simplified. While it’s certainly an innovative idea, I do question, are all these perks worth it?
One has to simply look at the repercussions of a fast-paced society – so many different opinions, so many different viewpoints, and so many different worldviews. We hardly have time to process all the words and views that bombard us on a daily basis.
In this society, almost every act by someone in the spotlight is analysed for its political repercussions and representations. Why is everything so political? Can we get beyond this; to relax and live life?
Over the next few months, I’m going to partake in a social media fast.
Why?
Like many people of this day and age, I find it hard to look past other opinions to see the person that is there. I want to point out the fault in other beliefs too quickly. It’s too easy to look past the plank in my own eye to see the fleck in the eye of a brother.
In a world that has so many different opinions, we tend to hold fast to our beliefs and shut out the possibility that someone else could teach us, even if it appears to contradict our own beliefs and values.
While Christ was on earth, He lived a flawless life. God incarnate, fully God and fully man. Because He was fully man, Jesus felt and experienced life as we do now. Through His life, somehow, Christ loved all who came into contact with him. He challenged those that choose to follow Him to do the same.
“37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Matthew 22:37-39 ESV.
Through completing a social media fast, I’m aiming to spend the time that I used on social media to allow God to teach and grow me – the most important thing as a follower of Christ is to seek to love God above all else.
The secondary purpose of the fast is to allow God to grow my character and help me to learn to love others. Only through the power of the Holy Spirit can we do this. It’s hard to love someone with a different opinion!
The purpose of this piece isn’t to blow my own trumpet. I’m not any better than the next guy. Life is a journey that we’re all on. I pray that this will challenge you to do similar – put God first, allowing Him to change you and grow you too.
Look past the opinion of the person in front of you. See the person as they are – someone that God loves as equally as you. Every moment is an opportunity to love as Christ first loved us. I was recently challenged that as a man of God, my role is headship – to initiate reconciliation, to initiate the relationships, to initiate the standards that will be a part of my own household. It’s time for me to step up to the plate; perhaps this is a challenge for you as well.
God bless.
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