Is the Gospel Truly Good News for Everyday Life?Sýnishorn

Day 5: Refuse The Starring Role

Can we all just agree that social media is rife with both blessings and difficulty?  

I once had the misfortune of wounding the pride of a female acquaintance when I neglected to give her the shout-out she felt she deserved on a certain social media platform. I only know this because, after noticing an effusive public post I’d made about another person I dearly love, she felt the need to share her disappointment with a mutual friend, who then shared it with me. Or, in short, you know, the grape vine. 

Mind you, I had called and texted personal congratulatory messages to the offended girl. But nonetheless, since I hadn’t made the praise “public,” she felt slighted. Sometimes I think pride masquerades as insecurity, which may be less offensive initially than a boisterous, noticeably big ego, but it’s still fruit from the same self-focused tree. It’s still all about us…it’s just narcissism in a nicer outfit.

Speaking of being me-focused, I would be remiss if I made you think that gal is alone in her struggles. While mine isn’t typically tricked out of hiding by perceived slights on social media, I’ve got my own nasty versions of self-centered insecurity and shame. And trust me, they definitely make themselves known on a regular basis! 

Like a few months ago when a Christian gentleman with whom I thought I had a real connection with on our first blind date never called again and told the person who’d set us up that he wasn’t attracted to me, plus was put off by the fact that I came with the “baggage” of an HIV+ daughter. 

His barb not only sent me reeling to my dark chocolate cubby in the panty, it convinced me to trudge down the path of self-pity. I wound up spending way too much emotional energy analyzing my unattractive parts (Missy not included – that joker was DEAD WRONG with that part of it. I may or may not have prayed for him to be trapped in a small room filled with hundreds of howler monkeys who were infected with irritable bowel syndrome for dismissing my baby girl as “baggage”) and wondering what I could’ve done to be more alluring.

The bottom line is this: one less-than-flattering opinion about me from a balding man I only spent two hours with derailed my mind and heart from focusing on Jesus for at least ten times that many hours afterwards. That’s the real danger of pride-disguised-as-insecurity—it kidnaps us from living securely and abundantly based on the unconditional love Christ has lavished upon us, muffin top or not. And it embezzles time and energy we could’ve used to attend to lost and broken people around us. 

It bleeds us of the peace Jesus died to provide and it robs the world of the salt, light, and compassion His followers are called to provide. We weren’t meant to spend those kinds of hours and mental energy and emotional output on how we stack up in the eyes of others, whether that be on social media or on a date or wherever it is for you. Instead of insecurity and pride, we all need to be reminded to instead pursue what St. Augustine called the three greatest characteristics of a Christian: “Humility, humility, humility.”

➤When does pride-disguised-as-insecurity tend to rear its ugly head in your life?

This devotional was adapted from another resource. Learn more at lifedevotional.com.