The Daily Scroll

Our fingers have been programmed in this day and age to scroll, double tap, text, and type. The other day my friend was telling me that her three year old can open the iPad and turn on his movies without help. Our minds and hands have been rewired to go straight to our phones. Without even realizing it, we take part in the “daily scroll.” Instead of taking a walk with a friend, we scroll through their lives. Picture after picture on Instagram, post after post on Facebook, tweet after tweet on Twitter. We scroll, scroll, scroll and take in so much that we don’t know what to do with the information overload. I know that the “daily scroll” has left me feeling disconnected, fruitless, and down most days. You may find yourself in the same delusion after your own daily scroll.

I want to challenge you today to take a stroll instead of a scroll. Let’s take a step back and take inventory on how our relationships with others have been affected through social media. Have we lost touch with those around us? Do we comment on Instagram before calling? Do we use social media to replace the value of face to face communication? These are questions my heart has been wrestling through this past season. Christ calls us to have deep relationships with our friends and family that are rich in the Lord. I believe that God uses the internet for His glory everyday. Instagram is a joy and a ministry to me. But I want to take 2 Corinthians 13:5 seriously and examine my heart when it comes to how social media can affect my mind:

“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

One way I have seen social media have far too much power over women is through their identity. We scroll throughout the day and often close our apps feeling discouraged. We know that all-too-familiar feeling of competition and comparison with our sisters in Christ. We compare our walks with God, our closets, our bodies, and our homes. One way that I have seen Satan having much victory in the body of Christ is through our relationships. Instead of breaking bread with one another and giving freely of our possessions and time, we are competing and running the race against each other instead of with each other. It’s time that we stood our ground against the devious plans of Satan and teamed up with our sisters-in-Christ to encourage them toward loving the Lord. 

Katherine McBroom Photography

In order to do this, we must take a step back and examine our actions and reactions when it comes to our relationships and social media. After the “daily scroll,” how do you feel? What thoughts are in your mind? These are a few things the Lord has revealed to me that can hinder our relationships with our sisters-in-Christ if left unwatched. 

Today we will cover just one topic and will follow-up tomorrow with other ways that we can choose to stroll alongside our sisters instead of scroll through their life.

Criticize.

We have all been judged. At this very moment you are probably thinking of one instant where you either felt judged or criticized or were told verbally of your flaws. The feeling can be devastating. Our words have so much power, but our gazes do as well. I will never forget when I worked in fashion, I showed up at the high-end boutique I worked at in a new outfit. When I saw my supervisor, she looked at me from head to foot and then kept working. I knew that my dress wasn’t suitable for that day of work and I struggled to make it through the work hours. We have all criticized and been criticized. In Matthew 7:1-3, Jesus commands us to “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?”

Sometimes it is easier for us to see the faults of others than our own hearts. But God did not create us to be judges. Instead, we are the guilty who have been set free from our own judgment by the blood of Christ. We were once dead in our transgressions and followed after the world, but Christ saved us and gave us new life. (Read all of Ephesians 2!) The Lord has been reminding me that my words have power and critical judgment has no place in my heart. Our response and love for others should flow straight from the cross of Jesus Christ onto those around us.

compliment.

Instead of criticism, what if we complimented one another? Instead of judgment, what if praised our sisters? God loves a heart of praise and mouth of purity. What if we used our scrolling and our strolling to lift up our friends and family int he Lord? The world would look totally different. And so would our hearts.

Today, let’s compliment one another in the truth of Jesus Christ instead of criticizing. And then watch the Lord do mighty things through speaking and writing words of life to one another.

Check back tomorrow for more ways we respond to social media and how we can choose to stroll with our sisters in Christ instead of simply scrolling through their lives.

Gretchen