Swipe Right

    How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? Selah

Psalm 4:2b ESV

In February of 2017, I proposed to my girlfriend. She said yes!

When I updated my relationship status on Facebook from “in a relationship with” to “engaged to”, I had 12 likes in under a minute.

My fiancé was on the phone with her grandmother recounting the story of the proposal when I posted the news of our engagement. It was just a few minute conversation, but in that time we had obtained nearly 40 likes already.

Sadly, it was kind of thrilling.

Over the course of the next few days more people saw the post. They liked it, commented on it, and it had the most shares I’ve ever had on a social media post.

I posted our new relationship status on Friday, and by the end of the weekend we had reached nearly 600 likes!

When I first joined Facebook, a post of mine might get one like and one or two comments. A few years in, and I was hitting between 40-100 likes on every post. It got to the point that if a post wasn’t getting enough likes, I would take it down. I would get embarrassed in real life over a Facebook post not performing well!

And there I am: 600 likes, feeling like a #minorcelebrity.

It was all vanity. I was finding my self-worth in my social media posts and the cheap thrill I got when getting likes was quickly becoming an idol. In a way, I was the kind of man who David was writing about in Psalm 4.

I loved the likes, I loved the comments. Like David describes, I was seeking after lies.

I was looking for that artificial feeling I got when a post succeeded. It was incredibly vain and shallow. I knew that, but I loved it all the same.

A new like, a “Haha” react, a positive comment, an upvote, a favorite, a DM, a swipe right. None of those are bad things, but when we start to find our self-worth and identity in how people are reacting to us on social media, that becomes an idol.

Our identity isn’t rooted in the number of reactions our social media posts rack up. When we do that, we love vain words and seek after lies. Our identity is rooted in Christ. I’m more than the sum of my social media experience. I’m more than just a reflection in a black screen.

I am fearfully and wonderfully made, created in the image of God.

I don’t have value because of the artificial success that others give me when I succeed on social media. I have value because of who Jesus says I am in Him.

Today, don’t find your value in artificial success, loving vain words, and seeking after lies. Find your value wholly in the Creator.