Face the Book

Facebook. We’re either all in or want nothing to do with it. Lately, I’ve been thinking about how much time I spend on it. I’m not knocking Facebook at all. I think it’s an ingenious social media tool, if used wisely.

But I find myself scrolling for fifteen minutes at a time or more reading posts and looking at pics, “liking” this, getting upset over that. Sometimes feeling frustrated that I just wasted fifteen minutes or more. But I continue to check in periodically. Let’s tell the truth, many of us do. I’ve even vowed to stay away but when I find myself procrastinating on what I should be doing or have a little down time here and there, I tap on my Facebook app.

Facebook allows us to present our best side but it’s just a snapshot, at most. We have control over what people know and what they see. The real “us” is facing the screen, not plastered on Facebook. And we know it.

Some use Facebook to create a self they’d like to be and some are what my husband calls Facebook preachers, always telling people what they should be or shouldn’t be doing. Others are blatantly rude, publically threaten to “unfriend” anyone who sends them another Candy Crush game request or they let everybody know they’re purging people from their friend list instead of just quietly doing it. I never quite understood that one.

Facebook is making us act weird. I don’t want to be weird like that. That’s why I’m writing this post as a reminder.

But more important than acting weird to me is the question of priorities and time well spent. As I get older, the reality of the brevity of life sinks like a heavy weight in my soul.

Facebook serves as a reminder to constantly question who I really am and what I should be doing with my time, and ultimately, with my life. Spending time on Facebook isn’t going to really help me answer those questions. But sticking my face in another book will.

We can go around reading what others have to say about us, life, or God or we can go straight to the source who created us. I opt for the latter because we’re all really just searching for those honest-to-goodness answers that only He can provide.

The Bible is uncanny in reflecting an accurate image of us, and simultaneously providing the wisdom to transform that image as well.

It’s always time to face the book.

The Word

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  The same was in the beginning with God.  All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.  John 1:1-3

John, the beloved disciple of Christ, knew something so astounding about Jesus’ origins that it would challenge the world’s understanding of who Jesus is.  Because of His intimate knowledge of Him, John dared to reveal that Jesus’ existence before His incarnation reached into eternity past.  Not only did His existence pre-date time as we know it, but He co-existed with God, the Father.  This means that Jesus was a distinct person alongside God.  If this was not enough for mortal minds to grasp, John also blasted any and all pre-conceived notions when he unveiled Jesus’ divinity.  The Word was God!  Although He was distinct in personhood, in essence, He was God.  With this revelation, Jesus’ ceases to be just a teacher, priest, prophet, or king.  He is God Himself! What a grand beginning for the universe, for the gospel John wrote, and for our understanding of who Jesus is.  John introduced Him to us as the Word of God.  God’s voice could be heard in the beginning when He created the heavens and the earth with the Word, when He said “Let there be…”  It was the Word of God that created all things that exist. God’s Word has creative power. In John’s heart and mind, there is no mistaking Jesus’ identity.  Jesus is the beginning of all things.  Embrace this life-transforming Word and bury it in your heart.  After all, it is from the heart that life springs eternal.

Hearing Voices

I was watching a TV drama years ago about the murder of an up-and-coming young writer. The person who killed her wanted to steal her writing and make it his own. The murderer thought that the young writer had two things he did not have — a voice and a future. What the misguided murderer did not know was that everyone has a voice and the voice of another coming out of yours will sound out of tune and will ring inauthentic.

Our voice is our inimitable personal language — how we express ourselves, be it through the arts or other countless ways of sharing our life experiences. Each voice tells a unique story. By giving voice to our experiences we invite others to catch a glimpse of our struggles, our dreams, our faith — our story.

Faith is what makes the difference in a Christian’s story and in the way the voice is expressed. Each story involves God as the protagonist, who oftentimes is foreshadowed throughout our lives until He is revealed to us as the director and producer of our life story. His presence and creativity brings the turning point that gives meaning to our storyline. It is that pivotal encounter that is expressed through our voices in varied forms and makes the stories worth telling and those precious sounds worth hearing — leaving lingering echoes in our souls.