"Social media postings can foster envy and depression in those who follow them. According to Pew Research, a whopping 71% of those who use social media report that they see content that makes them angry. Another 49% experience depression, and 31% sometimes feel loneliness after viewing certain content. The University of Pennsylvania conducted a study that asked students to limit their social media viewing to no more than thirty minutes per day. After three weeks of this new habit, participants reported feeling lower depression, anxiety, and loneliness. While many people use social media out of a fear of missing out, the study participants also expressed less of this fear, despite spending less time reading people’s updates." Written by Valiant Living Recovery
Social media is killing us. Recently, I heard someone say, you don't have to post it to prove it! Have you ever felt like if someone knew the real you, they would not like you. I tend to feel a lot of pressure writing. I wonder what some people who knew me when....would think. The fear of being found out that we are less than we are sneaks up. We become in conflict within ourselves. Then comes the temptations to prove who we are. When we feel we have to prove it the joy is gone.
When I started writing this blog I had lots of doubts but a big one was, what if they knew me when I was wild and in college? And I let Satan continue to tell me why I could not do it. At times I still tend to feel a lot of pressure writing. Then God reminds me again that He does not look for perfect people because there are not any! He reminds me that I am a new creation! And He reminded me that I have been anointed. I have nothing to prove. I know who I am! I am a child of God Almighty! If I go around trying to prove myself to others I will kill my joy in all aspects of my life including my work, my marriage and my ministry.
Even Jesus' brothers did not believe Him and He did not feel the need to prove. In fact, Jesus purposefully stayed away. John 7: 1-9, "After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. His brothers therefore said to Him, 'Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.' For even His brothers did not believe in Him. Then Jesus said to them, 'My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. You go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.' When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee." Jesus said, not now. I am not going. He didn't need to show them, He already knew the truth.
If we feel we have to prove ourselves, we are carrying a burden that we were not built to carry. Like Jesus, all we have to do is be obedient. This pressure does not come from God. You are already special. You are already set apart. Leviticus 20:26, "And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine." And we see it again in Deuteronomy 14: 2, "You have been set apart as holy to the Lord your God, and he has chosen you from all the nations of the earth to be his own special treasure." Let's concentrate on purpose, not proof. Even God cannot please everyone. Why do we think we can?
"People: He doesn't act like a Christian. God: I'm not looking for actors."