Exposing the Idols in Our Hands
Every morning, my alarm goes off. I pull myself out of bed and shuffle toward my phone. Swiping away the alarm, I notice notifications. Nothing serious, just tiny little social media messages. I could put my phone back down, walk to my quiet place, and spend time with the Lord, or I could see what the world thinks of my latest post. I swipe up, leaving my heart unguarded and open to the world.
Scripture tells us to guard our hearts. But social media says to listen to comparisons, noise, and endless opinions. How do we navigate this in a world that revolves around social media?
I didn’t realize how much social media was shaping my heart, molding it, then freezing it into stone. At the beginning of January, I stepped back to reflect on my relationship with the Lord and ask myself what idols I had in my life. As part of that reflection, I decided to fast from social media to see what effect it truly had on my life. During this time, the Lord softened my heart, as the verse in Ezekiel says, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh” (36:26). He showed me how big an idol social media had become.
I came to realize that it took more of my time, attention, and affection than I had known. I had become addicted to the mindless scrolling, but for what? The constant reminders that I’m never enough. Social media is always pushing an agenda. It makes you feel like you don’t look like you should, you don’t have enough money, and you’re not where you should be in life. It’s always pushing things on you like a drug dealer. Wear this makeup to be prettier, sell something to be wealthier, work harder to get farther. You need more and more. It creates a consumer mindset rather than a mindset of contentment.
After a week, I decided to write down what I had learned from my detox. The good was undeniable. I spent more time in the Word, prayed often, had intentional conversations, cut my screen time in half, and made meaningful memories with family and friends. While I could do these things with social media, I realized how much more fully I did them without its constant distraction and influence.
But then came the hard part, the things I’d rather not admit. Social media had quietly become an idol in my life. I was more concerned with how people online perceived me than with how the Lord sees me. In our society, we are so attuned to how people perceive us. Social media has trained our brains, and it’s almost like a drug. We think about it all the time. I walk into the crowded gym and think about how people are perceiving me. I step into the church and wonder how I’m perceived. Just like how a drug addict becomes consumed, we become consumed.
When social media was present, my time in the Word decreased, and comparison became my constant enemy. As I sat with these realizations, my eyes flooded with tears. The thought of putting something above the Lord made my heart so heavy. I had become so tangled in the grip this idol had on me that I struggled to be content with the season the Lord had placed me in and the blessings He had already given me.
The biblical definition of an idol is any object, person, or desire that takes God’s place as the primary focus, trust, or affection in a person’s life. When something becomes an idol in your life, you replace the worship of your Creator with something temporary. Matthew 6 gives the example of money as an idol. It says, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” This verse gives us a warning about the severity of allowing temporary things to take precedence over the Lord. We cannot both love the things of the world and be a true follower of Jesus.
When I slip my feet into my furry slippers in the morning, I must decide. Will I swipe up before I settle in with Jesus? Will I start my day selfishly, reading the little perceptions my peers have left? Or will I resist? I know I can’t put both first. There is only one first place. We cannot love the things of the world and be a true follower. I must lay it right at my Savior’s feet.
When we do this, we allow the Lord to be at the forefront of everything we do. It humbles who we are and allows Him to work within us rather than following the things that are simply fleeting. Our heart’s desire should be to worship the Lord in everything we do. Instead of dwelling on the comments, likes, and opinions of social media, we should turn to the Word. By doing this, we allow the real truth to define who we are.
When the enemy says, “You aren’t beautiful,” the Word says, “You are fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). When the enemy says, “Everyone else has a better life than you,” the Word says, “I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans for well being and not for trouble, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11). When the enemy says, “Your value comes from your appearance,” the Word says, “Do not let your beauty come from the outside. Your beauty should come from the inside. It should come from the heart” (1 Peter 3:3–4).
I think what I truly realized about those insecurities was that my heart posture was toward the world and toward myself. The root of making an idol is selfishness. I selfishly wanted to become like the people I saw on social media. I was overly focused on becoming more like them than on bearing the image of God.
I’m seventeen, my frontal lobe hasn’t even fully developed yet, so I’m definitely not perfect. I struggle. Truthfully, this is something I battle daily, but my outlook is different. Luke 9:23 says, “Then Jesus said to them all, ‘If anyone wants to follow Me, he must give up himself and his own desires. He must take up his cross every day and follow Me.’” I have to continue to fight the insecurities, selfishness, and worldly standards. I have to choose to allow the Lord to work in my heart and not allow those things to define who I am.
I’m also not going to sit here and say I’m anti-social media, because good can come from it. There are influencers who use their platforms to share the Gospel, and I think that’s great. That is an amazing way to steward what the Lord has given us. No matter who you are, sharing your story and the Gospel on social media could impact someone’s life in ways you may never even see.
But when it does become an idol in your life, it’s important to acknowledge that. The more you allow it to take root in your heart, the more you begin to place that idol above God. And from whatever you idolize, the desires of your heart will begin to flow. For me, that looked like living in selfishness and insecurity. But the Lord didn’t create me to live in insecurity. My identity is meant to be found in Him and in His truth.
So I want to challenge you to sit down and be honest with yourself. Ask yourself, what are some things in my life that I idolize? What is the thing I do before I turn to God? How can I set boundaries with this idol? Maybe take some time and write out the answers to these questions. Allow yourself to dwell in them and let the Lord reveal them to you. Some idols may be a simple fix, and some may be a part of your everyday life. But allow the Lord to help you fix it. You can’t do it on your own.
