What if we spent every day doing things that actually mattered? What if our time was focused as much on Jesus as it was on ourselves? How might our lives be different and more importantly how might the world be different? Instead of spending time framing the perfect shot of ourselves to post on Instagram or refining our thoughts into the funniest short sentence to tweet, what if we actually took seriously the call of Jesus on our lives?
Jesus said if we loved Him we would take up our cross every day and follow Him (Matthew 16:24). This life is all about Christ and not in even the slightest way about us!
This generation has become so self-absorbed it’s a wonder anything ever gets done. Researchers are studying the effects of teenagers and young adults constantly looking down at their smartphones. The early results are not good for the upcoming generation of spines! We are consumed with how others perceive us and what they are saying about us. There is something bizarre about putting up a page that’s all about “me”. We do everything possible to present our highlight reel to the world while hiding the behind the scenes footage from inquiring minds.
Last year Google published research showing that people are taking over 93 million selfies each day. That’s a whole lot of “look at me”. Whatever happened to pointing people to Jesus and not to ourselves? Our mission is to reflect the love, light, and beauty of God, not to be self-absorbed and obsessing over the way we look. We talk about ourselves incessantly and constantly check in to see who else is talking about us. In fact the same Google study showed people worldwide are checking their phones 100 billion times each day. That’s billion with a ‘b’!
Technology is not a curse, but the way we use it can be. If we spend our days focused on ourselves and not on the Kingdom, then technology is controlling us and we have become its slave. Ultimately almost none of the time you spend on social media matters. Unless you are the rare exception, you aren’t using it to carry out the mission of Christ. Instead you are too busy bragging about your latest exploits and sharing the latest cat video you discovered on YouTube. Really? Is this the way we live life fully devoted to Christ?
Time is running out, if not for the world then at least for you. Each breath brings you one closer to death. We are finite creatures created to do work that will further the Kingdom of God and demonstrate His glory to the nations. Jesus doesn’t care how many likes your latest post received or how many friends you have on Facebook. He cares only that you are serving Him first and serving others fully with His love and through His power.
We’ve got to wake up from the stupor into which technology has lured us. We’ve got to start living for something and someone bigger than ourselves. We are wasting time and wasting our life being self-absorbed. It’s time to get the focus off yourself and back where it belongs. Only Jesus matters and only what we do for Him counts for anything. Now put down your phone and go and love someone.