A memorable quote from yesterday's sermon: "Most people's lives are like bad photographs, they are overexposed and underdeveloped".
What a statement regarding our obsession with our public appearance but the lack of attention to our personal development. I would imagine that humans have always placed a high emphasis on what others think, but the temptations nowadays are greater. We long for audience and once we have an audience, we seek to please them. With the proliferation of social networking sites from Facebook, Tweeter, MySpace and so much more, individuals now have hundreds and even thousands of people (so-called friends) who can monitor a person's life events, thoughts and even moods. Each individual has a complete control of what can be placed out there, an ability to shape their own image. What a temptation to slack off on our private personal development.
Being a user of several social networking sites myself, this is a tough challenge for me. I surely wish that my life cannot be even closely defined by my "profile" and "updates". True relationships are forged over time and circumstances. I want my life to be centered in Christ even if no one reads about it. A daily walk with Christ simply will not translate as a "tweet". And that is a great thing. I pray that I have the strength to ignore the temptation of impressing a crowd and instead be focused to live for an audience of One.
By: Ed Delfin
