Facebook is an amazing tool...it's a great place to quickly and easily connect with friends. It's also a great way to see what goes on inside a lot of people's brains per the "What's on your mind?" status updates. One interesting thing that I've noticed is how much people tend to think of themselves. I'm aware that the status updates are a place to update what's going on in your personal life, but in a wierd, funny way it's almost become this type of scenario: 'Out of the abundance of the heart, facebook status updates.'
I notice updates about how bad a person's day has been or how aggravated they are with co-workers or how bleak everything looks at that particular moment in their life. These 'status updates' are usually a good look into what someone is really thinking, quite frankly because people generally put what they really are thinking. It's sort of like when you get caught up in the heat of a moment and blurt out something without thinking about it...with the ability to access the internet so easily with cell phones and what not, sometimes I wonder if people put things online without ever thinking about them. Things that people would never talk about before facebook now are just normal ramblings on the web. Everything that's shared is viewed by hundreds of so-called facebook friends...'friends' you've probably never been to lunch with, but this doesn't stop most people from letting everyone know about how pitiful their lives are that day. In the "good ole' days," if you had a bad day at work, you sucked it up and went on. Now all our facebook friends get to hear about it.
But this isn't about having to hear about bad days, this is about how self-centered we've become. We have things that happen to us, and instead of 'counting it all joy when we face various trials' we feel the need to let hundreds of friends know about what's going on. As a born-again believer, my first priority, surprisingly, is to give glory and honor to God in all that I do. When you stop and think about it, how is letting everyone know how bad I've got it giving glory to God? Basically, we're bringing pity to ourselves, which, unfortunately, is what I think some people like.
James tells us that we should be slow to speak and swift to hear. I think that covers facebook status updates as well. Maybe instead of immediately getting online after something happens to us, we should be asking, "Father, to Your glory, what can I learn from this?"
The main point in this whole subject is this: We all face hardships and trying situations on a daily basis, of course, some worse than others. When it comes time for your next status update, instead of just posting 'I hate my job! Some people need a knife to the knee-cap!' - think about this question...
What's in your heart?
