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I came across a devotional the other day that really spoke to me. Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, of Grace Community in New York City wrote this commentary.
"The amount of online access that we have with each other has created an inordinate focus upon outward appearances. Our Facebook status or Instagram update only increase the pressure to cultivate a “personal brand” that is carefully groomed for Internet consumption. Yet God has a different way of seeing things—he looks at the heart. What would it look like to take some of the time that we spend on managing our outward image and reallocate it toward cultivating the state of our soul before God? We may be uncomfortable at first, but we also may find a deeper sense of direction and satisfaction than any outward image can produce."
It is so true that humans spend unbelievable amounts of time and financial resources on their outward appearance. We in the US tend to be the leaders of this trend. In 2016 the beauty and personal care market generated an astounding 84 billion dollars in domestic sales alone. Toss on top of that the dollars we shell out for clothing, cars, houses, vacations, food and all the other things that we love to post on our Facebook feeds, and you begin to see how true Pastor Whitehead's devotional really is.
Social media has created an outlet for our natural human drive to express ourselves in a way that is seen as unique and awesome. The social tools that we have available to us make it that much easier to portray an image we want the world to see when they think of us. The image that we might be able to create using social media is way to shallow and temporary to support what our soul needs to feel like the victor God wants us to be. Worse than that, what happens when the image we are portraying just doesn't fit the reality of how we feel. Victim thinking and victimizing events happen when we fail to maintain an image we think we need in order to be seen in the light we desperately need.
Those of us caught in the trap of having to create and maintain an image of self based on what we do and how we feel are in such danger of slipping into victim thinking ways. Social media tools have given us a platform that helps us to leverage all we do in ways to help build an identity that suits our needs. Problem is that all we really see on social media is the best of a person's life. For those of us who are struggling with identity, what we see on our social media pages do nothing more than drive us into more and more despair as we compare our lives to what we see others doing in their life.
I've used this quote before but it fits here so perfectly I want to say it again. My friend likes to say this about the dangers of comparing ourselves to others. He says, "We get ourselves into trouble when we compare our insides to the outsides of others."
Social media is all about letting others see how amazing and awesome the outside of our lives really are. Do you think I'm being too harsh with my commentary of social media expressed in that last line? Think about this for a minute. When was the last time you saw a picture of a person feeling totally hopeless over the loss of a job? When was the last time you saw a post that expressed the angst your friend has at making a relationship work? When was the last time you used social media to share how lonely you feel and how lost you are at times?
I'm not knocking social media. I'm not even knocking our use of social media. No, social media isn't the issue at all. Pastor Whitehead hit the nail on the head when he said, "What would it look like to take some of the time that we spend on managing our outward image and reallocate it toward cultivating the state of our soul before God?" Social media isn't being used to help us cultivate our soul before God. That's a victim making reality if we don't take steps to change how we use and enjoy social media, in my opinion.
What does it take to cultivate our souls before God? I don't know that there is a definitive list that truly answers this question, but three things come to mind for me. Let's take a look at them now.
The first thing that I think we need to cultivate our souls before God is relationship. We need real, open and safe relationships with God and with others in this world. Thing is that all the adjectives I used to describe relationships need to be there or our souls won't benefit from connecting with God and with others.
Those we relate to need to be safe. That means there needs to be a level of acceptance that makes us know we will be loved no matter what our lives look like. That's why not all our friends can be a real relation. Not all things are acceptable to another person. It takes time to cultivate a safe relationship where we can be real and open. Not taking time to make those kinds of relationships happen in our lives make it nearly impossible to cultivate the state of our soul in ways that make us realize how much of a victor we really are.
Secondly, we need quiet to cultivate the state of our soul before God. Outside of your time asleep, how much of your day is spent in quite? How much time do you give your brain a chance to just shut down a bit? I don't know if you are like me or not, but shutting off my brain can be a difficult proposition. It takes deliberate and consistent work to get my brain to a place where it gets a few moments of rest. I believe we need those few moments of rest so that we might be able to hear God's quiet and still voice a bit more clear. Nothing cultivates our soul like taking time to just be before our God rather than planning all we are going to do for Him.
Last thing that comes to mind when it comes to cultivating our soul is faith. It is when I ruminate on what God says about me that my soul begins to submit to my spirit in ways that make self image less and less important in my life. It is when the basis of identity is completely left up to how our outsides appear to the world that we end up doing nothing to cultivate our soul. Holding on to the fact that God choose us to be His Child makes the identity that comes with victor living something we can attain to in a more consistent way.
Take time to stir up some things in your soul. Like Pastor Whitehead said, it might be a little uncomfortable at first, but taking time to cultivate your soul will pay dividends in how your victor status impacts all that you will come into contact today.
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