Yes…you know how I write…its real, it’s raw, and I hope that this will set you free. That’s the point, not just something to shock you to read my blog post, but to truly be set free. I have felt this post brewing for a long time, and over the years of blogging and using social media, I have had to be set free. Maybe today is your day.
Social media for people is like the High School locker room showers. You know men…everybody looking at everyone else’s penis’ to see how they stack up and to see if they are “normal”. [Sorry ladies, I don't know how to relate this for you...but you do...and I need to be real here, especially with the men].
As a matter of fact, I feel like social media is like being in High School all over again!
Who responded to my blog, my tweet, my f/b post? Who “un-friended” me? The same bully who was aggressive in High School, or the passive aggressive wuss who is now hiding behind a fake name online wants to pick on you. How many “likes” did I get? Who agreed with me? Who is trying to pick a fight after school? Did I wear the right clothes today? What about my hair? I have zero letters on my Letterman’s jacket…wait, I don’t even have a jacket.
What is this pastor doing? Why can I not get a tribe to follow me? How many people did they have at church this weekend? Their kids are involved in what sports/activities/won what crown of glory? Did you see that profile picture…holy crap! Why can I not be so whitty/theological/funny/serious/or take videos that go viral whilst driving down the road like @loswhit?
They went where on vacation? They took that cruise line and got a king suite with a balcony and butler? They bought that house and then put 5 cars into that 9 car garage already? She got her PH.D? She lost how much weight? Those can’t be real [there you go ladies, one for you...]! On and on and on we go. Like dreading to go to High School when our alarm goes off, some of you dread to go online to see how our lives are not stacking up to others lives, careers, and callings!
You can’t help but compare. And it is eating some of you alive. I know it has worked on me in the past pretty hard.
Stop comparing. Stop caring. Stop looking at things that are out of your control. Stop feeding off the same things we fed off of in High School. Be. set. free. right. now!
God gave you your body parts, your height, your weight, your hair color, your…well, you know.
He also gave you YOUR calling, YOUR mission, YOUR church, YOUR secular job, YOUR family, YOUR neighbors…and he gave them all to you not by accident, but ON PURPOSE. There is nothing you can do about it, but trust Him, and allow Him to do what He needs and wants to do in your life. The only mission you can control is the mission you live out every day. Maybe it is tweetable…and then again maybe it never will be.
Stop letting social media and others be your measuring stick. Be set free right now in the name of Jesus to be who HE HAS CALLED YOU TO BE! Stop letting twitter, Facebook and other forms of social media take you back to the days of zits and smelly pits while you try to get someone to notice you and ask you out to prom. Don’t be ashamed you are driving a white, 1987 Chevy Cavalier station wagon that your grandma gave you [like I did, but it did have some killa thumps in the trunk]…be happy you have some wheels at all!
So…I don’t care if my blog stats, followers, friends, or comments are way less than yours. I don’t care if you “un-friend” me or if I can’t send you a DM because you don’t follow me. I don’t cafe if I am not tweeting pithy quotes or follow the 10 rules of twitter to increase my followers. When Twitter or F/B asks “What are you doing?” I might just say what I am doing!
I don’t care if you think I am cool, not so cool, a jerk, a jock, a rebel, a geek, a nobody. I seek to be free and just like I should have used High School as a better mission field, I pray that I will use social media as my mission field and use it for the right reasons.
Easier said than done. I’ve said my peace.
How about you? What are your thoughts on this?
P.S.: This post is NOT just for Pastor’s…it’s for everyone! Go now and live out YOUR calling today.
“I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.” [1 Corinthians 3.6-9.niv]
