Knocking on the devil's door

In my last post, I took you inside the deep, dark bowels of my car. In truth, I did this because:

My hoopty of a car is pretty comical.
Isn’t it nice to know you’re not the only one who drives a trash can?

Many people can relate to driving a janky car. Or if you’ve never driven one you’ve at least ridden in one (anyone that’s ridden with me feel free to raise your hand). And I know it’s silly to try to relate to you over janky cars, but there’s a certain camaraderie in it.

I’ve said it before so I’ll say it again, God created us to be relational. That’s why we have a desire to be known by others. The problem is the devil knows this about us too. We want to be known and loved for who we are but the devil has convinced us if people knew some of those ugly things about us they wouldn’t love/like us anymore. So what do we do?

Instead of putting our “best” foot forward, we put our “perfect” foot forward. Best and perfect are not synonymous. Sometimes in school our “best” got us an 83 on a test. “Perfect” would’ve gotten us a 100. Our “best” doesn’t always get our to-do list done. “Perfect” would’ve gotten it done in plenty of time.

And that’s when it hits us. Our best just isn’t quite good enough. When we figure that out, it can be a huge disappointment. So what do we do? We employ social media to put our “perfect” foot forward. We take 57 selfies because we want to post the one that makes us look the best. We post the cutest pictures of our kids with their combed hair and clean, pressed, and matching outfits. We post about our magical, fabulous vacays. We post about how amazing our spouse is and how blissful it is to be married. We post when good things happen to us at work. We post and post and post.

I do this too. If I post a cute pic of my kids, I want the likes and the comments of how cute my kids are. I want people to think I’m funny, so when I post something I think is funny, I want affirmation in that. Bet you didn’t think I was that shallow. Wrong. It’s almost like if other people believe it then that somehow makes it true. And that’s when the devil’s got us right where he wants us.

We’ve believed the lie. The lie tells us we are only worth knowing if we are perfect, or least seem that way.

You know what’s weird though? When I’m around those people that seem perfect on social media, I usually see they’re not all that perfect. They’ve left dirty dishes in the sink overnight. They’ve run clothes in the dryer three times to procrastinate folding them. They’ve walked past the same pair of shoes 12 times and not picked them up and put them away. They’ve yelled at their kids. They’ve harbored bitterness toward their spouse. They’ve been too busy for God.

They. Are. Me.

When I realize this, I can’t tell you how much it refreshes my soul. “Perfect” is an illusion. Don’t believe the lie. All of us are just trying to be the best parent/spouse/friend/sibling that we can be. So instead of trying to make people believe we’re something we’re not, how about we trying being who we are—who God created us to be. He only made one of each of us for a reason. He didn’t want us all to be the same, so why do we try so hard to be like everybody else? Sigh. I’ve been playing that tune since middle school. I mean, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the trendsetter for tight-rolled jeans. I just wanted to look like what everyone else looked like.

Does this mean I think we should all post all of our downfalls on social media? Not necessarily. I’m sure I’ll still post funny things or pictures of my family on social media, but my hope is I’ll be reminded of what the Word tells me.

“All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,

but the Lord weighs the spirit.” Prov. 16:2

Food for Thought:

Do you ever fish for compliments or get stuck comparing yourself to others on social media? Would love to know I’m not alone!

-Courtney

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