Joel M Bradshaw

5They [the Pharisees in Jesus’ day] do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, 6and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues 7and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.–Matthew 23

1. Jesus accused the Pharisees of being consumed by image and opinion.
2. These are the primary two symptoms of self-worship in the modern social media age. Living life on Facebook or Instagram.
3. Never missing an opportunity to put a picture, air an opinion, or share a feat. And these always are meant to craft a narrative and to make you look good or to get a favorable response.
4. When other people’s opinion matters most, then humble service for God’s sake becomes second.
5. This is because secretly it’s worship of the self and not God. Posting about your life is different than living your life.
6. Today’s text hits home for me. I find myself caring too much about what others think of me. I’m getting better by being very intentional about this and what I post, but it has been a historical struggle for me.
7. I know that I still have work to do in this area. How about you? Our social media fixation only exacerbates the existing worship of self.–JMB