The Fall

Did you see the news report last week of the woman who fell off a cliff while repositioning herself for a photo? Tragic. A 100-foot drop to the forest floor below. Could her death have been prevented? Yes. But that would have required thinking.

The picture to the left is the cliff the woman was on. Would YOU go out there without a rope?

There is a trend in Internet photos to take the most daring images possible. People do really dangerous things and then post pictures of them on-line so their friends will think they're cool. The problem with that is two-fold. First, it's just plain stupid. And second, it encourages others to do the same thing. Also stupid. Yet, it happens.

The woman who fell to her death was 20 years old. My dealings with youth and young adults has taught me that there is a general feeling amongst them that they are invincible. They will try all kinds of stupid things in the hope that their friends will think they are cool. Fast forward to the funerals of these same young ones and you will find all of their friends thinking, "That was dumb. What was he/she thinking?!?"

The woman who died while taking a picture could have worn a harness and tied herself off to a tree or rock but that wouldn't have made for a "cool" picture. It seems we are always trying to cheat death and please others.

When you and I walk through this world without Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we too are "cheating death." We think we can make it through another day without committing to God. After all, we want to look cool amongst our friends. "Jesus is for losers," they say.

"21What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 6:21-23

Have you ever seen people climbing a very tall mountain? What do you notice about them? Well, the smart ones rarely ever climb alone. That would be dumb. They also use a lot of ropes and anchors. Why? Because they don't want to fall to their deaths!  Not using anchors would also be dumb. Don't be dumb. Use your head.

If you don't know Jesus, don't walk through this world without a rope or something to anchor yourself to. This place will kill you! Please, don't be dumb. Tie yourself to Jesus before you take another step.

"9 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: 10 If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up." - Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Selfie

"19 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - Matthew 6:19-21

 

Well, did you hear? Oxford Dictionary has announced its Word of the Year for 2013. It's "selfie!" (Funny, my spell-checker doesn't recognize the word, yet it seems to be in use practically everywhere!)

 

A selfie is a self portrait, a picture taken of one's self. Although, I think you can have more than one person in a selfie. It seems the name comes from the act of taking a picture yourself, no matter HOW many people are in it.

 

On a related note, the most photographed room in a typical home seems to be the bathroom - a popular place to take selfies. You see you can either take selfies by pointing the camera at yourself or taking a picture of your reflection in the bathroom mirror.

 

While I was on Facebook a couple months ago I read an interesting comment from an observant young lady. She said, "I love how people crop the top of their heads off so we can see their boobs." The truth of that bit of sarcasm was revealed a short while later and I scrolled down to find a selfie of a young friend with the top of her head cropped off so she could make some middle school boys day.

 

We as a society have become addicted to ourselves. Even our president is getting into the act, much to the dismay of his wife, Michelle. The three immature heads of state at the left are taking a selfie. The reason Michelle is so upset is that her husband and his friends chose to take their selfie during Nelson Mandela's funeral. Classy. That is just SO incredibly wrong, words cannot due it justice.

Today's society is enamored with itself. We are all stars of our own little movies and everyone else is our supporting cast. It's all about us. We've never known otherwise because it has ALWAYS been about us. Even Facebook posts about other people in our lives are really about us because WE made the posts. And everyone else feeds off each other. Everybody else's posts are really all about me because they are just players in MY life. I hope you can taste the sarcasm.

In reality, all the Facebook and Twitter and Pintrest accounts, they're all about us, the things WE want to say, the things WE like. Even this blog is a selfie of sorts. It IS all about MY life and where I see God working in MY world.

So what should we do? Terminate our Facebook accounts? I've thought about it on more than one occasion. I probably will do it one day - pull the plug on the whole social media thing. But from this day forward I have decided to make a pledge.

I am going to keep track of my computer time, my social media time, and make sure I spend MORE time reading God's Word or spending time in prayer. Maybe it would be more profitable to spend time with others, spreading the Gospel or serving others in my community than it is updating my status. One thing is for sure. Jesus was not "all about Himself." He was all about God and doing His Father's will. He was all about spreading his message of sin, repentance and forgiveness through our belief in Him to ALL nations and we, quite honestly, should be doing the same.

Are we, as Christians, denying The Cross every time we post something about ourselves? Every time we take a selfie? Think about it. God is.

 "And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." - Luke 9:23

Is your Facebook Picture a Selfie by Jimmy Kimmel