LIKE or KNOW

Facebook is a popular social media website allowing users to experience a sense of community online.  About 1 billion people from all over the world log-on daily and share stories, pictures and interesting facts about themselves among their cyber world of friends.   You can find vacation pictures, graduation news, music, hobbies, classifieds and more.  Each person carefully crafts a personal profile page showcasing him or herself to other users.  These pages represent what each person is known for, or perhaps more accurately, what he or she wants to be known for.  In essence, these pages are the “likes” about each user. 

Each one of us lives a life in which we want to be known or “liked” for certain things.  Maybe you want to be “liked” as a good mother or father, a good spouse, a hard worker, a good athlete, a faithful volunteer or a prayer warrior.  All these things, in and of themselves, are not bad.  The problem comes when we start caring about what we are “liked” for more than we care about who we know. 

Knowing Jesus Christ and being a Christ-follower is far more important than any “liked” reputation you may be seeking to create for yourself.  Saul (Paul) understood this better than anyone.  He was extremely educated, a devoted and reliable Pharisee.  He was feared by those of The Way (Christians) and assaulted them with tremendous vigor.  While adding to the reputation of his name in pursuit of Christ-followers Saul unexpectedly met Jesus.  All he once held dear he left behind because of his encounter with Jesus. He left his entire world, his respected position, his authority, his power, his social status even his name all for the sake of knowing: Christ Jesus. “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2)
 
What about you?  Where is your “like” in life?  Who do you know? Do you care more about what people “like” about you or do you care to “know” a nurturing, deeper growing relationship with the crucified Savior?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 80-20 Rule

In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, observing that twenty percent of the people owned eighty percent of the wealth. The Pareto Principle, or 80/20 rule, states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.   Although this rule was first applied in Italy when Pareto was looking at the dispersal of wealth, it has since become a rule of thumb for many businesses.   It has been said that 20% of your workforce does 80% of the work, or 80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients.   I think this law comes into play in our lives as well.   Life is 20% what happens to you and 80% what you make of it. There are tons of stories about people who come out of difficult situations — gang life, in and out of jail, drug addiction, broken families, abuse – yet still seem to rise to the top.   And of course, there are many stories of those who have been given...
Read more

Control Yourself

When it comes to our life, we have nothing to say about our birth and little say about our death, but in between these two events most of the decisions are ours to be made. Are you letting life and circumstances control you, or are you controlling your own life and destiny with God’s help. Don't let life pass you by when you have the God-given ability to make things happen. I've heard it said: You can't control the length of your life, but you can control its use. You can't control your facial appearance, but you can control its expression. You can't control the weather, but you can control the moral atmosphere that surrounds you. You can't control the distance of your head above the ground, but you can control the height of the contents in your head. You can't control the other fellow's annoying faults, but you can see to it that you do not develop similar faults. Why worry about things you cannot cont...
Read more

Bounce Back

As a 7th grader in junior high school, I was devastated when I was cut from the starting 8th grade football team and sent to the second team.   I felt disappointed, embarrassed and dejected.   Latter that week, I spoke with my grandfather who passed on these words of wisdom, “It’s not how far you fall, but how high you bounce back that matters.”   I took those words to heart. The Bible says in Proverbs 25:11, “Timely advice is lovely, like golden apples in a silver basket.” I valued his wise words and committed to doing my best for this second string team, instead of pouting and complaining over my sense of failure. I committed to working hard, giving my all to bounce back. It served me well as I entered high school and played on two state championship teams. I learned that day that what happens to me in life doesn’t count as much as how I react to those things.   I had a choice the day I was cut from the team—I could wallow in misery and quit the team, or I ...
Read more