Facebook- The Good, The Bad, && The Ugly

Ahhh Facebook.  I have a love/hate relationship with you. You are amazing in helping me keep up with my family and friends that are not close to me physically. You allow me to share our lives with the very same family so they can see our kids grow and what they accomplish. You give me a platform to share the gospel and the light with the world.

I love that on Facebook, I can follow great pages about The Lord, and family, and education, and news. I love that people share great recipes and I can try new foods.

What I Don't Love...

Is that we tend glorify ourselves on Facebook. Look at me, Look at me, look what my family can/is doing, etc. I don't think any of us do it on purpose, because we love our families, and we have a sense of pride in them for what they are accomplishing-, but it can come across as unhealthily prideful!  (Proverbs 16:5, Proverbs 16:18, Romans 12:16)

It can make others less than content with where God has them currently. If Susie Q has it so good, why can't I? What is wrong with me Lord? Why can't I have that success, or that kind of kid- or that kind of clean living room? What do I not have , that they do? Why aren't you blessing me like you are blessing that person? Instead of being content with where God has you, you can easily become ungrateful to God for the blessings you do have in the envy you have for someone else, and their circumstances. (Philippians 4:11-12, Psalms 23:1, Proverbs 28:25) 

It gives us a platform to say things we would never have the audacity to say to someones face. The anonymity of the internet appears to give people the guts to say what ever about whomever they choose. People-public figures, elected officials, etc- are people. They deserve to be treated as such, in my humble opinion. (Titus 3:1-3, Psalms 34:13).

For lack of a better way to say it- it gives people the opportunity to be the version of themselves that they really wish they were-but aren't. Essentially- I stay frustrated with people who want others to believe they are a certain type of person, but in reality they are completely different. I wish people would be real. Good, Bad, Indifferent-Be Real. I am perfectly okay with living in ignorant bliss, and not knowing who people really are sometimes.  The reality is, that is between that person and the Lord.  It's not mine to know. (Romans 12:2)

In being real, however, leave your drama at home. I think back to the old saying about airing dirty laundry. Some things, the world doesn't need to know. The world shouldn't know. Some things should be between you and The Lord. Some things should be between you and your spouse. They don't need to be a permanent part of the internet, to then be speculated about and then discussed. Because you know what? Then you potentially become a stumbling block to someone else. (James 4:8, Romans 12:18  Proverbs 4:23)

Not that I need any help, but at times when I scroll through my facebook feed- I see something that peaks my curiosity (aka my nosiness), and before I know it I have looked at someone's post, the comments, and then gone on a personal quest to "investigate" the source of the problem, and why? More than likely, in my flesh, I want to be able to gossip about it (gasp!). Women (and men too, no doubt!) need no help in this area. We are dying to talk about it, get in touch with our inner emotions about it. Come to some understanding about it. It's a part of our (my) sin nature. So, when I post on facebook, it's (in my opinion) my duty to only post things that do not create a stumbling block for another.

So, this is just a few of the things I have either allowed myself to or seen get out of hand. The Lord smote my heart the weekend before Christmas about something.

I HAVE TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT TO GOD FOR MY IDLE WORDS AND IDLE TIME.

Matthew 12:36-37

Yes friends, we do. All that wasted time on Facebook, looking at things I shouldn't, not that they are "biblically bad" but none of my business nonetheless. All those posts with empty nothingness, no substance or direction toward the light and saviour. What I wasted that I should have, and could have, given to God, but chose to waste it on the idleness of this world.

Talk about God stepping on my toes for awhile. First I thought about deleting facebook entirely. I prayed about that, and eventually came back to the originally why I came to know Facebook-family. Family will always be on my facebook, but the rest are at the discretion of God's leading. Not my flesh, not my choosing, but what God convicts me about that I read.

So here is how Facebook is going to change in the coming months-

1-There will be no senseless posts. If there is no news to report, there will be no posts.
2-I will not grumble and complain on Facebook, period.
3-I will not continually read and be nosy about issues that are posted on Facebook- It's not healthy, and only fosters in me a spirit that is not usable for God.
4-I will be limiting the time I am on Facebook. There is a bigger and brighter life out there beyond my phone and Facebook- It's time to live it.
5-I will (with God's leading, I pray) learn to be content with the life God has for me, and how I can be a blessing to someone else- in the here and now. Not the future, NOW. God wants to use us NOW.
6-If The Lord tells me that I shouldn't be looking at things on Facebook, I will be eliminating it. Period.

This was God's wake up call to me- and how I personally use my time, and what I see. I am by no means telling you this is what you need to do. That is your conviction from God. But I have to do what God tells me, because I want to stay in the closest fellowship with Him, and I want to grow more in Him this year than ever.