Social Media Killed my Spiritual Life

Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

These are some of the first things that I check the second I turn off my alarm for the second or third time in the morning.

Then I begin my day with my workout.

It’s my connection to the rest of the world, especially as an introvert. Maybe that part is a cop out, but it’s kind of true.

These are also the last things I check before I close my eyes at the end of the day.

For a few months now, I have felt something missing in my life.

I’m not traveling enough. I don’t have enough friends. Maybe I have too many friends. It’d be awesome to have a man in my life. Am I working hard enough?

The last four weeks at church, we’ve been studying Jonah. His story is always so fascinating to me because he reminds me a lot of myself. I know what I should do, or what I’ve been called to do, but because of my stubbornness, I begin to do things my way. Then when God has a little bit of a  are-you-done-messing-around-yet moment, I get back on track and something powerful happens.

Yesterday, I had a pretty significant ah-ha moment. An answer to a question, that really didn’t answer my question, but allowed me to change my perspective.

I was avoiding studying for my Accounting test and was on Pinterest. I like to look through the humor pins to cheer me up. I noticed on my home page, a beautiful pin with a Bible verse.

Then, like being hit with a 2×4, it became so clear to me.

Social media had killed my spiritual life. No where in all my thinking of what could be missing was more of Jesus.

How embarrassing is that?

I have a Pinterest board named “but God”. It has 186 pins of Bible verses and quotes about God. In looking through this, I realized I would just pin the pin on my board and that was it. Never did I once think to look at the pins and open my Bible to read the verse.

So last night, I did something different. Instead of doing a final check of my social media apps, I took a piece of paper that I had written all the Bible verses on that I had pinned from Pinterest, opened my Bible and began reading and highlighting the verses.

One of my favorite pins is this one:

The moment I saw it, it struck a chord in my heart. Last night, I took what was on my heart and gave it to God. Remembering the Bible verses I had read just moments earlier–promises of His love for me–and went to sleep.

I’ve never slept so soundly. 

God is real. His Word is real.

I don’t want to get so caught up in my life here on earth, keeping up with everything that is going on in the lives of people around me and all over the world, that I miss the most important relationship I could ever have with my Savior, forever, in Heaven.

I could be extreme and say I’m going to go a week or a month without social media, but that’s not realistic to me. I want to learn how to balance all of that–my face-to-face connections, taking my online class, reading my Bible on a daily basis, watching the World Cup and working hard at my job.

I challenge you, if there’s something keeping you from what’s most important, to re-focus. Find a way to balance things, where what’s most important is actually important. Maybe your relationship with God is on point, but there’s something else that has significantly dropped on your priorities list that should be higher.

What do you want? What are you willing to change, to refocus to get that? Do it. Do it now.  Do it this week. Do it before it’s too late. Now, is the time to grow. Now, is the time to make changes. Now, is the time to focus on what you really want for you life.