Have you ever felt like you need to withdraw from everyone, everything and retreat into a cocoon? My guess is that over 90% of us have had multiple meltdowns like this during this whole COVID epidemic; and probably even before the pandemic. Our emotional levels are being run by adrenaline  gone wild because we aren’t able to see life in our normal shades of white, gray and black.

We’ve got crazy people running the streets shooting police officers, burning down buildings and terrorizing neighborhoods in the name of some cause. Our government makes an occasional appearance to the podium of ‘mixed truths’ to give us a consult on how to deal with the state of impending doom that hems us in and seeks to ambush the commonness of everyday life. You know commonness, that mundane thing that tends to keep us balanced.

If you spend any time on social media you have likely been bombarded with opinions, spiritual guidance, advice, judgement, counsel from so-called professionals that offer their (un)-licensed interest and (google documented) online remedies based on their unprofessional conclusions. If you haven’t, you are living in a bubble and when it finally bursts, the reality of today’s world will rock you to the core.

In Case You Didn’t Know…

I’m not perfect.

Based on social media posts you might get the illusion that my life is nice and tidy, without complications; nothing could be further from the truth. I am a broken vessel that relies on the grace of God every breathing moment to battle destructive forces that pay visits to me in the script I’ve been given for this life.

Struggles with addictions, failed marriages, poor choices, anger and depression have topped the list. These struggles are more visible than the subtle adversary that lurks in the scenes we play out in my mind on any given day: Malignant, self-defeating thoughts. Certainly they have paid you a visit as well. Thoughts that hold you captive to negative views about yourself and the world around you. Thoughts that impact your self-esteem, the feelings you carry about your personal abilities, relationships with others and make you want to withdraw and retreat because you don’t measure up.

What to do?

Turn your eyes upon Jesus. When our focus is on self and others, we will always fail because we are measuring our value based on this world. Our value is measured by God’s grace and His never ending desire to re-script and direct our life for an eternal purpose. If you want to trust anything right now toss social media and self-proclaimed Google Gurus to the wind. It is time to trust in God’s Word and His vision and preordained purpose for your life, my life and the future before us. Our creator knows us from the inside out. He knows our failures, insecurities, fears and hopes before they ever enter our mind.

It is best to listen when God’s coaxes us to withdraw.  It is an invitation that He longs to draw near to us and that we aren’t fooling him with that exemplary, creditable life we work so hard to present to the world. Friends, we are all broken whether you want to admit it or not; doesn’t matter. Bottom line is we need Jesus not social media to fix us.

“Come near to God and he will come near to you. You (we) are sinners, so clean sin out of your lives. You (we) are trying to follow God and the world at the same time. Make your thinking pure.” James 4:8