CONDITIONED!!

Sunday’s Monday

It is becoming more and more apparent with the passing of each day that we as a people are being conditioned through social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and a host of other sites have been marketed for years as a means of bringing the people of this world together. Which for the most part is true but there is an awful downside to these products! For the vast majority of people who subscribe to these sites, experience a magnification of the power of manipulation. People discover that they can pour out their problems on such sites and receive pity and attention from those of like kind, then there are those who air out their dirty laundry, again seeking affirmation of their feelings and this list covers every feeling one could have. Today’s world is teaching us to seek the authorization (approval) of social media for our discuss, heartbreak and pleasure in an effort to validate our inner most feelings. Paul the Apostle warns in Galatians 1:6 (ESV), I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. All social media outlets have the tendency to manipulate users into the practice of self-centeredness.

Most have learned to milk social media for things which bring consolation to them. Think about it! One usually receives a snippet (specific train of thought) of the situation and then the author sits back waiting on the likes, those agreeing comments and even encouraging words to continue on. Very few participants have actual (firsthand) knowledge of the person’s position authoring the posts, tweets or whatever method, yet people tend to sympathize and agree. It is impossible to determine how many people have been plunged into dire situations through the encouragement of unsuspecting commenters simply clicking like, love and so on. We have to wake up to the fact that life on this planet is too short and too hard to be treated so trivial and public approval is ever so temporary. Something else we should think of before releasing anything public, is found in Galatians 1:10 (ESV), For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. Who am I trying to please, what am I trying to prove and where will this take me?

It took me a long time to actually understand and appreciate the value of social media outlets. My early experience was to jump in feet first and vented every issue that bothered me, tried my best to manipulate others to think as I and even gave advice to people I had never saw before. I was bad and wrong in so many ways! Then one day God had enough of me being me and He led me to a pastor in Salisbury, NC, who was casually speaking to several men and he without realizing it was preaching one of the best sermons I’d heard on the subject. Basically, he was saying is one has to be deliberate in his deliverance which went hand in hand with Sunday’s Monday. If one is not consistent in their lifestyle, why would people listen? If one exhorts love on Sunday and deviates from it Monday through Saturday, why would anyone turn to them for compassion and guidance. If I’m not living who I say I am, then who am I? This is the internal conditioning of this world, which reeks of self-centeredness, confusion, doubt, and fear. As humans we are not qualified to deal with this array issues, so we try to incorporate them all together as a lifestyle and live miserably because of it. I had to face facts, I’m not the smartest in the land, my opinion is only important to me and I am no more important in this world than my God who dwells in me (if I believe God to be important than I’m important following Him) . When it comes to any social matters, THINK BEFORE YOU STINK!

My prayer is that each of us understand that anything of man is temporal thus his approval cannot last. We ourselves will find no reward in the end for pleasing man as he has nothing of his own to offer. Therefore, I pray that we grasp and hold tight to Proverbs 3:5-6 (ESV), 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. “7 days a week!” Have us to be fessed up, read up, prayed up and ready. Amen

HAVE A BLESSED WEEK BY BEING A BLESSING TO OTHERS!

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