How
many of you know what a selfie is? A selfie is a photo you take of yourself and post to Instagram or Facebook. With most people owning
a smart phone, a selfie is an easy way to express yourself to the world. You have
full control of how you look or appear on the screen. A selfie expresses a
person’s feelings, tells your friends what you are doing, and shares with others
where you are at the moment. It seems there is an obsession with
expressing yourself to the world. There are all kinds of categories for
the selfie. There is the gym selfie where people take a picture of themselves
working out. There is also the pet selfie where people take a picture of
themselves with their pets. A popular one is the car selfie where people take a
picture of themselves in the car, hopefully stopped at a light. We like ourselves a lot, and more importantly, we like to be in control of
how others see us. Is this healthy?
The first thing that made me think of this was a recent talk I heard from a speaker
named Christine Caine. She expressed to a group around the age of 20 that God desires to use us for His good. However, it is very difficult to hear His voice when our own
voice is drowning God’s voice out in our lives. She said that God
needs time to develop us. Unfortunately, being a generation of instant
gratification, we want it now.
I stumbled across two quotes I
had written several years ago in my journal that also made me think about this. The first quote: “When a man
is wrapped up in himself, he makes a pretty small package.” This quote is by
John Ruskin. This
quote makes perfect sense but it is so hard to live by. We all, young and old,
spend our lives trying to make an impact. Most of our effort is focused on becoming better. Jeremiah 18:4 says, “And the vessel
he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into
another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.” All of our work
to become something is in vain if it goes against God. God will do with our
lives as he pleases, and that is a tough fact to swallow. We are all
spoiled clay but God still wants us and is reworking us, which is beautiful.
The second quote I stumbled upon: “For every one look within,
take ten looks at Christ.” This quote is by Robert
Murray M’Cheyne. We
are all consumed with ourselves. For most of us, the world revolves around us.
We spend so much of our time and energy looking within. However, we were not
designed to do that. When we look at Jesus it exposes us. It hurts to look at Jesus
because our sin and filth is revealed. We must look upon Jesus in
order to bring salvation and sanctification to our lives. Think about how your
life would be if you replaced thoughts about yourself with Jesus. How would
your life change if you thought about Jesus more in the day than your
needs? Hebrews 12:2 says “Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of
our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” When we
look at Jesus we see what He has done for us. He endured the cross, took on our
shame, and overcame death. When I view this, it humbles me and motivates me to
tell others about Him. As Christ followers, we are promoters not of ourselves
but of Jesus Christ. In the age of selfies, let us be patient, yield our
lives to God, and allow Him to mold us into who He wants us to be. Also,
let us be a mirror that reflects Jesus Christ by the way we live and act in the
community around us.
Humbly
In Christ,
Marty Burgess
College Pastor
