The Celebrity of Me
In Beth Moore's study of "James: Mercy Triumphs" she cautions us to getting caught up in our own celebrity from social media. Because these are avenues we can use to highlight OUR lives, OUR loved ones, OUR talents etc it's easy to get caught up in being self-centered or self-promoting. I use social media on a regular basis to share pictures of my friends and family, activities, art work and writing so this RESONATED with me.
Now it's true that I, and many other entrepreneurial friends use social media as a marketing tool (mainly because it's free and helps to keep the costs down!) but it's the extra feelings that get attached to those promotions that can be centered on self or self-defeating: "How many 'likes' did I get ?" or "How come I didn't get more 'likes'?" That quickly, it stops being about the business or in the case of sharing my writing, encouraging others . Before I know it, my feelings of value rise and fall with the push of a button. I've missed the point entirely: Glorifying God.
Even beyond social media, connections to church activities, talents and what we do for work are among the parts of ourselves that can give us a false sense of celebrity. Friends who are generous with their admiration and compliments, the "importance" of what we do and who we are in our professional circles, our involvement in serving organizations or church, the compliments we hear as a result of artistic achievement all serve to give us an inflated, distorted sense of importance and entitlement. I have certainly been guilty.
If there are positive aspects to celebrity, one would hope that they include confidence, a desire to work with integrity and a responsibility to do our best. It's when we live and die by our own press or become shaped by the opinion of others that we run into trouble. We begin to look OUT instead of looking UP. We become more interested in increasing our audience to MANY and lessen the audience of ONE.
As I thought about how much my self-esteem can so often be quantified by a "like" button, I had to face a hard question: If I were stripped of my work, my gifts, my things, my money, my activities, my friends and my family, ALL the "my"s , would it be ENOUGH to have but one identity - Child of God? I hadn't realized all the ways I wear my credentials through talents, titles and service until I thought about narrowing it down to what SHOULD be my most identifying marker. I'd paid so much attention to my branches that I'd neglected the ROOT of me, the very thing that nurtures the rest, anchors me and makes the growth even possible.
We all want to do something important for God. The question is, to whom do we give the authority to define "importance" and scale? The world doesn't provide that value. Every aspect of ourselves comes from Him and from the mundane daily tasks to pivotal life-changing innovations, it ALL matters to Him and it ALL counts. In His hands a ripple can turn into a tsunami.
I will still continue on as I always have, posting and sharing, and on the surface, nothing will change. I pray, however, the attitude with which I offer such things is different. I pray that it is enough to leave what I have at the alter and it will be enough that I was blessed with something to give. To God, all the glory.
Now it's true that I, and many other entrepreneurial friends use social media as a marketing tool (mainly because it's free and helps to keep the costs down!) but it's the extra feelings that get attached to those promotions that can be centered on self or self-defeating: "How many 'likes' did I get ?" or "How come I didn't get more 'likes'?" That quickly, it stops being about the business or in the case of sharing my writing, encouraging others . Before I know it, my feelings of value rise and fall with the push of a button. I've missed the point entirely: Glorifying God.
Even beyond social media, connections to church activities, talents and what we do for work are among the parts of ourselves that can give us a false sense of celebrity. Friends who are generous with their admiration and compliments, the "importance" of what we do and who we are in our professional circles, our involvement in serving organizations or church, the compliments we hear as a result of artistic achievement all serve to give us an inflated, distorted sense of importance and entitlement. I have certainly been guilty.
If there are positive aspects to celebrity, one would hope that they include confidence, a desire to work with integrity and a responsibility to do our best. It's when we live and die by our own press or become shaped by the opinion of others that we run into trouble. We begin to look OUT instead of looking UP. We become more interested in increasing our audience to MANY and lessen the audience of ONE.
As I thought about how much my self-esteem can so often be quantified by a "like" button, I had to face a hard question: If I were stripped of my work, my gifts, my things, my money, my activities, my friends and my family, ALL the "my"s , would it be ENOUGH to have but one identity - Child of God? I hadn't realized all the ways I wear my credentials through talents, titles and service until I thought about narrowing it down to what SHOULD be my most identifying marker. I'd paid so much attention to my branches that I'd neglected the ROOT of me, the very thing that nurtures the rest, anchors me and makes the growth even possible.
We all want to do something important for God. The question is, to whom do we give the authority to define "importance" and scale? The world doesn't provide that value. Every aspect of ourselves comes from Him and from the mundane daily tasks to pivotal life-changing innovations, it ALL matters to Him and it ALL counts. In His hands a ripple can turn into a tsunami.
I will still continue on as I always have, posting and sharing, and on the surface, nothing will change. I pray, however, the attitude with which I offer such things is different. I pray that it is enough to leave what I have at the alter and it will be enough that I was blessed with something to give. To God, all the glory.
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Studio 3:33 - "Peace in Creation": September 12, 2010
Inspired by one of my best friends, Cyndi Crabtree, after an exceptional conversation.
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