Hello everyone!
Social media is a fact of life these days. We use it to keep up with friends and family, keep up with news, celebrities, advertise our businesses and enhance our hobbies and other interests. I am thankful for social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook because they have both helped me tremendously in getting the word out about my book, author website and blogs! I also use them to keep up with friends and family happenings.
However, I have a couple of questions for all of us. How many of us use social media to define our worth as a human being? Do you care more about what it going on on social media with so-called Facebook friends or Twitter connections than you do your own family and friends you can see and hug? Do you care how many Facebook friends or Twitter connections you have and do these cause you considerable worry? Are you seeking validation from people you have never met or may have met on an aquaintance level - people who do not really know you?
Now let me stop here and say we all like to be liked and we all want to be loved. That is how God made us. We all want to be accepted into a group and cared about for who we are, no strings attached. I think social media can aid us in being liked on some level. However, can a Facebook or Twitter connection really love you? Can they really offer you any self-worth?
I would like to answer those last two questions with a big resounding NO. Someone you have never met in person and never had a real conversation can in no way love you. They may not even really like you - many things can be faked behind a computer screen. Someone you have never met can no more offer you self-worth any more than someone you have met or call a friend. Self-worth can't come from any flawed human being. Self-worth only comes from knowing Whose you are - in this case - Whose you are in Jesus Christ - the One Who made you and knows you inside and out. He loves you perfectly. Facebook and Twitter can't love you perfectly and they can't give you any self-worth - their creators designed them for entertainment purposes only.
Can we enjoy social media and all it has to offer? Yes, I know I do. Should we use it as our sole source of our happiness, self-worth or our sole source for friendships or acceptance? NO!! I'm afraid you will be disappointed if you do. We all need real people in our lives who love and care for us. We all need Jesus in our lives Who cares for us best. I can tell you this, Facebook and Twitter may be gone (along with all your friends and connections) in 20 years, but Jesus, He's not going anywhere.
Don't seek your self-worth in social media, seek your self-worth in Jesus. He is the only one Who can give you everything you need and be everything to you that you need. He is the friend Who sticks closer than a brother. He is so much more dependable than our digital fads. I promise you He will not disappoint.
Until next time,
Elizabeth