(5 Minute Read)

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before men, to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.” — Jesus (the Son of God)

The Pharisees in the New Testament are mostly pointed to as the people we should avoid being like—because they only wanted to do things to be noticed by men.

This reminds me of social media in the modern world.

There’s something in human beings that makes us not want to show our flaws or our mistakes, our blemishes or our imperfections—our humanness. We don’t want people to know that we have wounds because that would mean we are less-than-perfect, and vulnerable. We want to show our “best” selves to the world in order to win approval, and to avoid letting people down or being ridiculed. And we want to show our “best” selves to God because we think that’s what He’s looking for.

Here’s the good news:

He isn’t.

God isn’t waiting for you to clean yourself up and not make any mistakes in order to come near Him, ever. We are His children. We can come to Him freely, at any time, in any season, in any state or condition of our lives. He’s a Dad who loves to the full extent, all of the time.

As far as showing our “best” selves to the world, that’s a whole different story. The world can’t save you from your brokenness or pain, and instead will only make the pain louder and louder.

I don’t think the world even deserves our best selves (or any of our “selves”), let alone a fake image we are presenting via our social media accounts.

What makes this destructive culture more heightened is that it’s often the most pain-filled and hurting places of our selves that we try to cover up from being truly seeing.

We need the understanding that we can’t fix our pain or our brokenness—our humanity—let alone cover it up.

We weren’t created to cover things up.

Jesus said He came to earth for the broken and the sick people—the people with exposed pain! Not for the people who don’t think they have anything wrong or who try to hide their flaws.

That’s where the Pharisee’s got it wrong.

You see, they were busy (very busy) in their day-to-day lives keeping everything put together. They knew how to present themselves to God and to people in a way that “looked” like it was proper and righteous, but under the surface it was broken, selfish and messy. They were in need of a Savior just as much as everyone else around them.

In one of the instances where Jesus came face-to-face with the Pharisaical cultural swirl, He made it clear that it’s not what’s seen on the outside of a person that matters…it’s what’s found on the inside.

Matthew 23

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.”

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

Dead bones and dirty dishes.

That’s what we are when we only present our (seemingly) best selves to the world.

That’s how social media has turned us into Modern-day Pharisees. We only want the best of us to show.

It’s time to let that go.

It’s time to walk away from the graveyard and the dish-pit.

I’m not saying your timeline needs to turn in to you over-sharing your pain or even posting about your issues.

But what I am saying is this: Notice your heart’s motivation before you post something.

Does your heart feel dirty or dead and that’s why you’re looking to post? To get affirmation and attention from other people to feel better?

Is it so you can get a bunch of “likes” and be noticed by people?

Is it because you’re insecure about your status with people so you feel the need to prove yourself?

Or is it from a place of joy and satisfaction with your life and yourself? I’d say that’s the motivation we should align ourselves with.

…

Does your heart feel dirty or dead?

I know Someone who can help you.

The Bible says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”
‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

I’ve got a friend named Jesus who is really good at cleaning things up. I’d love for you to meet Him (even if you already have)!

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Let’s be people who share our hearts vulnerably with one another. Not put up masks or fake facades to hide behind.

Let’s be honest with ourselves and one another about who we are and what we’re going through.

We’re only hurting ourselves by choosing our “perfect” sides to show. This robs us of true connection because it’s not “us” that people are connecting to, it’s a plastic image of ourselves that keeps us in a terrible cycle of perpetual disconnection.

I’m leaving the graveyard and the dish-pit.

Will you join me?

With gentleness and wisdom,

Seth