EPISODE 612 – LET YOURSELF OFF THE HOOK!

LET YOURSELF OFF THE HOOK!

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before” 

Philippians 3:13 (KJV)

The present social media world has broadened the scope of being exposed to things happening around us.

The social media space is now the busiest street or broadway, the largest market, and the fastest space for news to travel around the world.

Interestingly, even news agencies surf online to tap into the trending news to increase viewership traffic.

As long as you have access to these social media platforms you have access to things happening around the world, even the private lives of others.

Do you know there are things you wouldn’t see on the street but will most likely find on the internet?

Some introverts who wouldn’t dare to dance in public space, will comfortably dance in their bedrooms and post the video online for the whole world to see.

Through the internet, you can easily observe and identify the conceptions and imaginations of hearts. Isn’t it amazing how people have become more expressive through the internet?

One may say, that social media is a “leveller“. People easily rise to popularity and use their popularity gained online to chart a course for their interests.

Amidst the countless benefits of this social media space, there are also disadvantages.

And it’s the more reason believers in Christ must have their hearts and minds drenched in the word of God than being drowned by the happenings around in-person and this social media space.

Everyone is trying to tell a story online. Most of these stories are packaged for the views. While some share stories of their marriage, others focus on their academic prowess, material wealth, growth in business, travelling experiences, etc.

These contents are sometimes designed to educate, inspire, transform and elevate others. Some create and share these contents to prove a point or to show off.

Whether they intend to inspire or to create competition, the adversary can use these online contents to feed your heart wrongly.

The adversary takes the success stories of others to amplify what you lack; thus, making you feel stalled as an entrepreneur, a Pastor, a couple or a single person. The more he gets you to focus on the success of others the more he makes you feel or think others are better than you.

This even becomes worse when you already feel stuck in a particular area of your life.

This kind of feeling is not a new challenge to humanity but has become rampant in this social media age; mainly because of the exposure it brings.

It is not always a sense of jealousy but a nagging sense of feeling behind. The adversary takes advantage to feed your heart with his lies. He deceptively whispers to your heart:

“You are worthless. See how everyone is progressing and you are not achieving anything with your life. You are a nobody and stuck in this place forever. Nobody cared about you and you are a loser. You will keep losing and never become what you have desired. All that you have known or been told were lies. Instead of making more money, you are now broke. Your peers are making better money online and in their various fields. You are slow and cannot catch up. These people started with you, but now they are light-years ahead of you. See how beautiful those couple are with their babies, you can’t have that marriage. Stop worrying yourself with that business. It will not succeed. Look at how those younger than you are making more money than you, even though you started with them”.

A part of you may even think that feeling or thinking this way is you having a genuine retrospect of your life. You may think you are now having a reality check of your life so that you will know how to do things better.

Stop it!

If you want to have a reality check of your life, look to Jesus.

He is the reality of your life.

To feel that nagging sense of being left behind is the adversary’s deceptive strategy to keep you hooked to your past and your heart settled on what you don’t have. This is the adversary trying to pin you down to your past mistakes and failures.

This is the adversary amplifying your weaknesses and nurturing depression in your heart. This is the adversary working so hard to keep you in the loop of discouragement and defeats so that you cannot take steps to advance further into your glorious future.

There are times you feel motivated and begin to think you are going to make progress. And then suddenly you are drawn back into this unsurprising pendulum.

You cannot afford to continue oscillating your heart between such states.

GET YOURSELF OFF THE HOOK!

Stop looking at the wrong pictures.

See as God sees. Don’t allow the success of others to make you feel you are failing. You are in the center of God’s program as long as you walk in the obedience of the word. Even when it seems you have made mistakes, remember this:
GOD IS RICH IN MERCY!

When the adversary begins to whisper those discouraging thoughts, don’t keep quiet. Fight back with the word of God. You roar the scriptures to yourself and declare:

“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer’s; He makes me tread on my high places.” (Habakkuk 3:17-19)