facebook idol

...an excerpt from My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers (bolded is my emphasis)

"Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"" (John 20:28)

Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink" (John 4:7). How many of us are expecting Jesus Christ to quench our thirst when we should be satisfying Him! We should be pouring out our lives, investing our total beings, not drawing on Him to satisfy us. "You shall be witnesses to me..." (Acts 1:8). That means lives of pure, uncompromising, and unrestrained devotion to the Lord Jesus, which will be satisfying to Him wherever He may send us.

Beware of anything that competes with your loyalty to Jesus Christ. The greatest competitor of true devotion to Jesus is the service we do for Him. It is easier to serve than to pour out our lives completely for Him. The goal of the call of God is His satisfaction, not simply that we should do something for Him. we are not sent to do battle for God, but to be used by God in His battles. Are we more devoted to service than we are to Jesus Christ Himself?

...i read this devotional last night before i went to bed, and thought it fit well with what i was thinking about before i read it. i gave up facebook for lent this year, because when i came home after school it was the first thing i would do when i got on my computer. i would take facebook study breaks, and probably log on 5 or 6 times throughout the night whenever an "update" appeared in my email inbox. i was addicted to facebook, and it was taking up a lot of my time. coincidentally (i don't actually believe in coincidents), i was running low on the time i would regularly devote to God. the logical thing to do? give up facebook, and use the time i would usually devote to facebook to give back to the Lord, investing it into my relationship with Him.

one phrase in this excerpt that was striking to me was "beware of anything that competes with your loyalty to Jesus Christ." now i know that facebook isn't inherently bad, but i believe that anything that i place above my relationship with the Lord in importance is an idol, which makes me an idolater. it is just as easy to choose other things (other good things- like church ministry and spending time with family and friends) over God as well. to use chambers' example, service for God can get in the way of our relationship with God when we do too much of it and leave no time to spend with God- learning from Him, getting to know Him, getting to know His heart and His plans for us. ironic, isn't it? but he's right. we need to pour out our lives and invest our total beings into Christ and our relationship with Him. if we don't, how do we expect to know Him and to know how he wants us to serve Him?

now, i would never deliberately choose facebook over Jesus, but by giving facebook all my time and leaving none for God, that's exactly what i was doing. (i wonder what other idols are in my life that i'm not consciously aware of?) hopefully this time of rest will help me to be a much more temperate and disciplined facebook user when i return as well as a better allocator of my time, and a better disciple of Jesus.

"search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. see if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." ~psalm 139:23-24