Social Sanity in an Insta WorldSample

We don’t often think about how profoundly social God is. For all eternity, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have shared communion and commonality and communication among themselves.

Made in his image, we are social too. But ever since our social network was joined by a serpent, we’ve been prone to harm our communities as often as we help them. That’s why our current forms of social media require wisdom to navigate. The Bible reminds us that wisdom begins in a very specific place: with the fear of the Lord.

It was the fear of the Lord that Adam and Eve lost sight of in the garden. When the serpent suggested to Eve that she eat the forbidden fruit, he promised her a benefit that was exceedingly strange: you will be like God (Gen. 3:5).

What the serpent offered was knowledge that would cause the humans not to reflect God, but to rival him. Throughout history, humans have struggled with this original sin. We are no different.

• Social media can make us feel unchanging, while in reality we’re easily influenced. (How much of your pantry or closet was inspired by someone else?) Since that’s true, how can we make sure our influences are good and true?
• Social media can make us feel like we’re escaping time; in reality, we have a limited amount. And all time spent on social media will not be spent elsewhere.
• Social media can make us feel like we can be everywhere, know everything, be friends with everyone. But we are limited to one body and one place. We can only sustain a limited number of relationships. If you’ve ever sat in a room full of people who have forgone conversation with one another to stare at their phones, you can relate to the words of the prophet Isaiah: “Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, ‘Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?’” (Isa. 44:20, NIV).

With our identity as image-bearers—not an immutable, timeless, omnipresent God—firmly in view, we’re free to partake of social media in ways that don’t define who we are or why we’re here.

The question then becomes, how can we utilize social media in ways that makes us look more like Christ?

God has promised wisdom to those who ask. Let’s ask expectantly, as those whose God-ordained social presence is custom-built for influence of eternal significance.