I came home from work this last week and I fired up the laptop, as I do daily before going to bed.
Why? To get my daily dose of social media, of course.
If you’re like me and you think about it too long, you’re a little embarrassed.
Ponder with me…
I’ve spent hours of my life reading about the lives other people are living. Wouldn’t we have thought this was insane twenty years ago? It’s like reading a never ending novel with no plot, few twists, and characters you can’t follow because they are constantly changing their names due to marriage, remarriage, name shortening, name lengthening, or “creativity."
There is literally no payout here. There is no happy ending. Everyone just changes their name and has more children.
C’mon people.
But darn it if those Buzz Feed posts aren’t sometimes hilarious.
And in these quiet moments, these virtual ‘connections’ to hundreds of friends from the last two decades of my life are reforged. We laugh together, converse, cry together, pray for one another- at the touch of a button. A ‘like’ is a vote of confidence, a show of sympathy, an arm of support. A comment a virtual homage to the strength of a real friendship.
Yes. It’s nonsensical. But I’m a millenial and logic simply isn’t my forte.
I grew up as all of this was beginning to happen, and now, in my mid twenties, my culture is ruled by it.
But on a quiet Monday, my emotions went a little haywire as I perused my Facebook newsfeed.
Everyone (and I do not exaggerate here) had posted a picture of their wedding, their significant other, their baby, their friend’s baby or their dog. (Can we get a few more Jimmy Fallon clips or well placed quotes from famous theologians, please?)
I love babies. And weddings. And dogs. And I tend to be able to rejoice with those who rejoice. And I love that Facebook gives me an opportunity to know what’s happening with others and how I can pray for them. But tonight, my flesh stepped in and decided to be an idiot. And my heart began to hurt.
"Well.” said my flesh. “You’ve got none of those. Better get off Facebook if you don’t want to spend more time thinking about how insignificant your life is in comparison to every other human on the planet.” (My flesh-self is a sarcastic jerk, by the way).
And here’s what the Lord said to my Flesh.
Who are YOU to say that the life I have graciously given you is not enough? I have uniquely designed this time in your life, your circumstances, your relationships and your work for your holiness. I know what you need, daughter. And I do not wish you to have every thing you’d like at the moment you want it. Your life is mine, and you dedicated yourself to My purposes when you followed Me. I know how to give good gifts to my children, and my timing is perfect. Won’t you trust me?
It was a Holy Ghost kick in the gut, and I needed it.
The moment you allow comparison to others to seep into your soul is the moment you begin to lose the battle for joy. The enemy wants to steal our rest and satisfaction in Christ with lies that what we have is not enough.
It’s the same lie the Enemy told Eve in the garden. “God just doesn’t want you to have this fruit…He’s holding out on you.”
Oh how that lie has run rampant to the core of every human since.
“If I only had…then I’d be…”
And every Christian must fight against it.
The good news is- the lie has a clear truth that counters it.
HE IS ENOUGH. And He’s never held out on us.
The grace that he should have withheld, the mercy He should never have shown, the extravagance of inviting us into His kingdom to be called His own children and share in the inheritance of Christ
It’s unfathomable that I should ever want another thing.
I have so many fruitless hours (on Facebook and in life) chasing the things- the relationships, the education, the jobs, the experiences. I’m done chasing. I’m ready to sit at the Father’s feet and wait with expectation for what he HAS for me. Today and every day there are opportunities abounding to be faithful with all that He’s given us.
No way does the enemy get to think he has an inch ground in the battlefield of this life…because it’s already drenched in Christ’s blood. He won it two millennia ago. And we look forward to a kingdom where we will forever praise God for His enoughness…we’ll never want or thirst for another thing again.
And the sin of comparison will be a thing of a time gone by.
Take that, Facebook.
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