"I just love the smell of coffee in the morning! #blessed #coffeeadict #thisishowigetthroughtheday"Although, I am not one to vent all my frustrations on social media walls! In fact, I love staying positive and thankful, helping people have a different perspective on their circumstances. Goodness, that's why I started blogging in the first place! How do I fix this conundrum?!? How do I be real and not spilling my emotional guts online.
As I was pondering this dilemma, I wondered what is was that caused me to feel "fake." It's like I make this IMAGE of myself…..IMAGE…. I'm good at creating a good image. Let's be honest….why do you think I was an A+ student in high school? I could figure out what my teacher expected or wanted and I began to create an image….be who they wanted with a little JP twist. I mean after all I'm still an outspoken, headstrong first born….I have an image to uphold people!! Snap. It slipped out again….
IMAGE- A representation of the external form of.
From the UrbanDicionary-The overall outlook of a place, person, or thing.
likeness. similarity. appearance. portrayal. shape. REPRESENTATION
Exodus 20:4 "Do not make an [image] for yourself, whether in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth."
As I began to think about the word IMAGE, I thought of the Israelites in the desert. Today we are not faced with many golden calfs that are pronounced to be the delivers of a great nations. No, our "graven images" are a whole lot different. But, come on, we live in the world of technology!! They have to be 10x cooler. Ya, they involve clever quotes and catch phrases, hashtags, selfies, and yep, you guessed it…FILTERS. All of it adds up to an IMAGE. An IMAGE I am creating to cause you to fall in worship of me….to bring myself glory.
Hebrews 1:3 "And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high"
The older I get the more apparent it becomes that life is NOT about me. It does not revolve around me, it will keep going without me, it is not dependent upon me. No, this world was created by God and held together by His mighty hand. Everything in it, including me, was created for HIS GLORY….not mine.
Psalms 115:1 "Not to us, Yahweh, not to us, but to Your name give glory because of Your faithful love, because of Your truth."
Social media is just a new package to an old problem. instead of sticks and stones its cameras and filters and clever quotes. Instead of animal portraits its selflies. God created each of these as tools to be used to bring us good and him glory and yet as Romans clearly tells us, "Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles….They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen."
Although I am so thankful for the tool of social media I must recognize I am susceptible to breaking the 2nd commandment. I never realized idolatry was such an issue in my life. Sure, pride, selfishness, laziness.... I get those. But idolatry?!? However, here I am carefully carving myself a graven image in the form of filters and hashtags.
The sad thing is it's a image that can't hear, can't see, can't meet your deepest needs. It's an image on the screen. How I long to serve a living God!
The older I get the more apparent it becomes that life is NOT about me. It does not revolve around me, it will keep going without me, it is not dependent upon me. No, this world was created by God and held together by His mighty hand. Everything in it, including me, was created for HIS GLORY….not mine.
Psalms 115:1 "Not to us, Yahweh, not to us, but to Your name give glory because of Your faithful love, because of Your truth."
Social media is just a new package to an old problem. instead of sticks and stones its cameras and filters and clever quotes. Instead of animal portraits its selflies. God created each of these as tools to be used to bring us good and him glory and yet as Romans clearly tells us, "Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles….They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen."
Although I am so thankful for the tool of social media I must recognize I am susceptible to breaking the 2nd commandment. I never realized idolatry was such an issue in my life. Sure, pride, selfishness, laziness.... I get those. But idolatry?!? However, here I am carefully carving myself a graven image in the form of filters and hashtags.
The sad thing is it's a image that can't hear, can't see, can't meet your deepest needs. It's an image on the screen. How I long to serve a living God!
He is the image of the invisible God...
Be imitators of God
Colossians 1:15/Ephesians 5:1