Much of what we see on Facebook is glowing. Rarely do I see the “real world” of someone’s
life. We never see that a Facebook
friend’s husband is leaving her or that a friend’s brother was diagnosed with
cancer. I never see a post of someone
who is struggling with an addiction or with the consequences of an affair. Facebook posts tend to only show the good in
our lives and that is not reality.
We
all have STUFF that we are struggling with now, hurts that won’t seem to go
away or scars from the past that still haunt us and won’t release their grip on
us. These are the things that are real
in our world: Hurt, Anger, Betrayal,
Loss, Sin, Pride, Loneliness, etc. Most of the time, we can’t see that on
Facebook. Even though, in theory, we are the most “connected”
we have ever been, if we are not careful, we let only the beautiful, clean, and
perfect details of our lives to be seen by others. This is not real connection because in all
honesty, we can’t relate to people who seem to be perfect and have it all together.
What, then, is real connection? It is being in honest, authentic relationships with others and being
accountable to others. We were created
for relationship – first and foremost with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and
secondly, with other believers. We can’t
do life without our Christian sisters in our lives. Well, we can, but it’s not the life that God
intended for us. It’s not the full,
abundant life that HE created us for. We
must have our sisters in the Lord to sharpen us and to keep us in check. We need the support and encouragement of each
other, and we need the prayers of others.
This past week, I was so glad
that I had someone like that in my life to hold me accountable. I needed to be asked a hard question, and I
needed someone to speak truth to me.
She didn’t worry about my reaction or if I would think she was being
nosy. She was more concerned about my spiritual
life, and she was willing to be honest with me.
The truth is, I need someone asking me the tough questions, and I need someone
checking up on me because I need accountability. Proverbs
27:17 states that “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another”. This verse spoke volumes to me this week as I
thought about how much I need my Christian sisters in my life.
God continues to reveal areas of my life that aren’t fully
surrendered to HIM. That’s why I need someone to help me see the
things that I sometimes don’t see, the things that maybe (if I’m really honest
with myself) I don’t want to see. There
are things I want to cover up, rationalize, explain away, and say, “it’s just
who I am and always will be”. That’s
where my community of Christ followers comes in – they are there to gently show
me the things that I have turned a blind eye to. They
are there to be authentic, honest, open and transparent with me. This is what I need and this is what the Father
wants for all of us.
Be willing to listen to the
person God is allowing to sharpen you. And be willing to have the difficult,
yet life-changing conversation with the person God has put in your path to
sharpen.
This week, my prayer is that God will show us how to live
this way with the people HE has connected us to. Angela Sutsakhan
All of this is so TRUE! We can fall into the comparison trap so easily with all the social media that surrounds us and can even become saddened when we think everyone else has that perfect life we see on Facebook.
ReplyDeleteAuthentic relationships are much more fulfilling and accountability, as you have reminded us all, is necessary. Thanks!