Wednesday, April 21, 2010

"Facebooking" to the Lord: An audience of One...



Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

I was cruisin' through Facebook the other night, reading off random status updates to my husband.  One status in particular caught my eye as the friend was describing their "perfect" day (If you're wondering if it was you....relax, it was the other friend).  My husband John, after hearing the detailed description of perfection commented, "Wow, people tend to embellish their lives on Facebook."

If you look up the word embellish, this is what you'll find:  to heighten the attractiveness of by adding decorative or fanciful detail; to enhance.  Sure sounds like the typical Facebook status to me.  I'm guilty of this myself.  So...you might be thinking, "what is the problem?"

The answer comes down to one word: motives.  In my opinion, there is a large and dangerous risk looming when we seek to embellish our lives to others for the glory of ourselves.  Don't get me wrong, I think it's a beautiful thing when a person can enjoy the details of their life- the beautiful sunshine, the romantic walk with your spouse, the fun day at the playground with your family, the taste of fresh strawberries in the summertime.  These are all beautiful details that God has given to us, and we should be free to enjoy every single aspect of these details. 

Again, the problem is not in enjoying the details- the problem is when we elaborate the details for the sheer purpose of adding value to our life through the praises of man...when we seek glory from man, rather than seeking to glorify God. 

As we read in Colossians, we are commanded to do everything in our life with the purpose and privileged of enhancing the name of our Lord.  We are called to "embellish" His name....which is easier said than done.  To put it in the words of a song, we are called to live to "An audience of One".   

So how does a Facebook status look any different bringing glory to God or glory to ourselves?  The answer: it doesn't.  It's simply a matter of our hearts.  It's merely taking an honest look into the motives of our sinful man, deliberately keeping those motives aligned with our Lord.  It's seeking to pursue our value from a Higher source, and enjoy the details of our lives because God has given them to us- not because we want the spotlight. 

It's not an easy task, but it applies in everything from our Facebook status' to our acts of kindness to our church attendance.  We have got to continually seek to offer these good things to our Lord, asking Him to keep us humble and keep our motives in check.

So whatever you do this week, in word, or deed, or Facebook status....do it all to the name of our Lord.  To an audience of One.  Amen. 

9 comments:

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  2. hmmmm what wonderful amazing true insightful words (you like my decorative detail?? haha jk) But honestly, I couldn't agree more and I can't deny that I'm guilty of this just like others are. The reason why I may "fancy up" my perfectly sunny AZ days is to get YOU and my other fam and friends to get enough jealously to come on out an visit ;-) haha. It doesn't take much to have people visit, but that's besides the point. In all seriousness, facebook can be such an easy trap for narcissism to creep up on all these "it's all about me" communication sites. For me, its about realizing I need to be that much more humble in many ways and that is through awareness and effort that comes from wanting to glorify the Lord and not myself...
    Thanks for this reminder my dear!!
    love you,

    Janice Ernest.

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  3. Mention your gift of "immediacy" when you describe your writing...

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  4. Janice,
    You make a great point....it's definitely easy to become narcissistic and self-centered with sites that are made to be "all about me". That's such a good point...and just another obstacle we have to overcome. A friend of mine mentioned how easy it is to get into the comparison mode with others, jealousy, etc. can creep in....

    Thanks for your awesome thoughts, I really appreciate the feedback about it. I need to come visit soon anyway :) Love you!

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  5. Kevin, thanks for the insight! I'll try to remember that one while "talking myself up"....geez:)

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  8. Debbie! I've been following your blog for a while, but have to admit, the "facebook..." title caught my eye! I totally agree with you about how disturbing it can be on facebook. I know that for me, I try to monitor what I say because you're right in that so many people are "blowing themselves up". I know I'm guilty of it. Especially when the first thing I do when something good happens, or anything happens for that matter, I want the "world" to know....so I put it on facebook. I think its a wakeup call to remember what we're doing and who we're doing it for!

    Thanks for sharing!!

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  9. Ps...I love to hear about my friends and families lives and see photos esp your pregnancy progress!! Fun happy things ;-) Being all the way on the West coast, I appreciate fb for that reason!

    God knows each of our hearts and motives.

    Love you Debs.

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