Social Media Revealed To Me My Own Sin
- January 08, 2018
- by
- Ansley Rikard
In 2013, I made my first Facebook profile. Since then, I have deactivated my account at least three times. Currently, my account is deactivated, hopefully for good. In 2014, I made my first Instagram account. I have never been brave enough to deactivate my Instagram account, so there’s that. In 2015, I started Snapchatting. I have deleted the app countless times off my phone since then, only to redownload it roughly a week after removing it from my phone. Currently, my phone is Snapchat-less. We’ll see how long it lasts.
For me, what is scary about social media is the conglomeration of excitement, jealousy, and discontentment that I feel when I scroll. Honestly, it’s really bizarre and sort of embarrassing to type out. I am insecure, and my ability to fight my own insecurities on my own has failed miserably. My failure is manifested in the amount of times I have un-deleted, re-downloaded, and reactivated my own social media accounts, trying to seek fulfillment in a place that doesn’t specialize in fulfillment. This is a problem. (Can anyone relate?)
I do believe that the Lord has used social media to reveal to me the lies I believe about Christ. First, I don’t believe I am beautiful, even though Christ tells me that I am (Psalm 139:14). Jealousy is rooted in this unbelief, and this is why I find myself scrolling endlessly, longing to be like the people I see on my screen. Second, I don’t believe I have enough stuff, friends, or money, even though Christ tells me that he gives me everything I need (2 Peter 1:3-4). Because of my unbelief in this area, I am discontent.
Discontentment and jealousy are not fruits of the Spirit. They are fruits of the world. If I keep eating the fruit of the world, filling myself up with them, I will exude worldly things. I must become like the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). I must eat things of the Spirit.
Because of social media I was able to recognize the sin of unbelief in my own life. Praise God for his grace and mercy toward me that he would reveal to me my own sin so that I may become more like him! All glory be to Christ!
Social media is not bad. The value I have placed on it is bad. I have become co-dependent on social media to fill me up with things that only Christ can give me – true love, acceptance, and worth. I am sufficient because Christ is sufficient (2 Corinthians 3:4).
As I continue to learn about my own worth, I find myself resting in God’s word, bathing myself in Ephesians 2:1-10, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Defeating the lies I have found myself believing is only possible through Christ and his Truth. I must know Truth to combat the lies of the world. Don’t let social media control your worth. Trust in Christ, knowing that he is sufficient, you are worth it, and, if you have Christ, you have everything.
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