I was scrolling along Instagram and I came across a post from a popular musician that I follow. He began to explain in the caption the many hardships he has faced in his life which has ultimately brought him to the place where he is now. I decided to take a look at his actual page since most of the content I see from him is on my news feed. As I looked at his page I couldn’t help but notice all of the happy moments and other content used to engage and get views. Seeing his page made me think of many of us. We like to show the good moments as if we have it all together, when in reality we may be truly broken inside.
The idea of showing the good and hiding the bad is what social media is all about. We want the perfect selfie or just the right caption to make it seem as though we are living our best life. What we fail to show or mention is how many pictures it took to get the right one, or how many hours it took to come up with the “perfect” caption. Why do we do this? Why do we feel the need to try an present ourselves as perfect to others for likes and comments? The reality of the situation is while we are chasing likes and comments for posting perfect pictures, we could reach even more people for a better purpose by telling our truth.
In John 16:33 Jesus was telling his disciples that they would have many challenges and difficulties as they went throughout their lives and the same is for us. Our job is to take our experiences and the things we have learned and use them to help someone else. Telling your experience of being divorced, single or even a parent can help the next person make it through. In this world we have enough fake reality. God is searching for those who are willing to be real, true and honest.
My challenge for you is to look for ways to help someone else. Posting pictures is always good but let us not be so focused on trying to seem perfect that we forget that there is even more power in being just yourself.
“Jesus answered them, “Do you finally believe? In fact, you’re about to make a run for it—saving your own skins and abandoning me. But I’m not abandoned. The Father is with me. I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.””
John 16:31-33 MSG
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