Is That You God? Or Is It Just Facebook?

Recently a friend of mine was at a crossroads. Her husband was considering taking a new job halfway across the country. They were weighing the decision carefully. What would be best for their kids? What would be best for their careers? Would they later regret moving their family? Where would God have them serve?

The answer to that last one was easy - God would have them serve WHEREVER they end up. All of us are called to serve our neighbors exactly where we are today. Whether we are in the process of reaching a goal or we have finally "made it."

But still, my friend was struggling. What was the best decision?! And being the analytic she is (we have a lot in common), she was soaking in everything she read and saw, analyzing it for meaning.

Have you ever scrolled through FB and seen a meme or a message that made you stop and wonder:

Is that you God? Or is that just Facebook..?

The fact is we all see a gazillion messages a day now that we are steeped in so much social media, and some of those messages can really get into our heads.

That would be the opposite of what the Bible says, actually.

Just one example of the actual Truth:

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Philippians 2:3-4

I wonder if my version of ¨victory¨ is the same as God´s?
Also, if I do my part? What if I´m having a bad day?

Here´s how the book of Hebrews talks about the faithful from the Old Testament:

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

Hebrews 11:13

Gosh, if men and women in the line of Jesus didn´t reveal ¨victory¨ to them when they were looking for it, why in the world would I get to delight in it in this lifetime?

First Lady Roosevelt said some useful things. This was not one of them. 

Doing what we ¨feel¨ in our hearts means we could easily regret yesterday´s big decisions if we suddenly don´t have the feeling anymore. It means commitments and promises can go out the window if you don´t ¨feel it in your heart¨ anymore. 
That´s not how the Bible advises us to live. 

Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.

Proverbs 28:26

This doesn´t mean we don´t ever have the brains to do the right thing. But it means when we just depend on our own ideas, and disregard the Word, we do not have wisdom. 

We have to stop carelessly jumping on FB post bandwagons. Instead let´s think carefully about what is being said before we hit "Like." And if we are wrestling with a big decision, advice is great, but be sure to confirm its value with the Truth of Scripture.
In my friend's case, she was getting a lot of those "change can be a good thing" memes floating through her Facebook feed. Yes, change can be great, but when they looked at the current circumstances of family and jobs, they decided a change in location wasn't being called for quite yet.

As the wisdom in Ecclesiastes says,

"There's a time to move and a time to stay put.
A time to be enlightened by social media,and a time to put aside Instagram."

Or IS that what it says?

Myself included, we all need to seek the wisdom of Scripture as we go about our lives. A great way to do that is to consider the things you believe are true, and then check to see if Scripture agrees.


Best wishes on your journey of discernment.