Hours ago, I was this close to pulling the trigger on a Facebook return. I had it all planned out: I even had a resolution in place for a year-long commitment to the platform. I picked out a beloved friend to shoot out the first request and...pulled back.

I'm not ready; I'm not strong enough to weather the innate divisiveness across Facebook. No, I suppose long has it been since I've hung out with the South Pole Elves, so I don't rage-post online (but its consumption sucks my soul).

No, instead, I don't want to become that which I hate: I don't want my mind dulled by the shallow waters of placating, self-aggrandizing placidity, that is, I don't want to be, "it's all cool, bruh, everybody is gonna go to heaven, so in the meantime, check out my Napoleonic 'nunchaku skills, bow hunting skills, (and) computer hacking skills.'" This combination of relativism and chest pounding is something I find revolting. "For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things." (Philippians 3:18-19). It's just repulsive: I HATE relativism and all the pride therein. It's a LOT of bravado coming out of a clay pot that's destined for destruction (Romans 9). And it breaks my heart...how I wish that their eyes might be opened by the Spirit (Ephesians 1:17-21).

At the core, how do I approach my faith? Love God and love my neighbor. Simple? Yes! Complex? VERY! Like Jesus said in Matthew 22, "On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." Even that which makes up sin in 1 John 2, namely, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, are basically just antitheses of these two commandments.

I say that because I do not know if I am strong enough to fully realize on Facebook the two greatest commandments. It's not the social media way! What would it look like to be on Facebook and to love God...

...with all of my heart...

...with all of my soul...

...and with all of my mind.

How CHALLENGING it is to find so many people who are indignant of the One I love! It is so very painful. And yet, I recognize that my own sins are a rebellion and are an affront to Him. And like in Romans 7, it is not I that do them, but sin living in me.

I yearn for greater faith and thus, I'm making 2022 a place of an extensive hearing of the Word of God (Romans 10:17). That's not what the world is about and the world tends to drown out everything else. That's the thing, isn't it? When I jump aboard a social media site, I find it spiritually draining. It gets to a point, they might as well just play the Grass Roots' Let's Live For Today.

In the meantime, I'm off Facebook and play this instead:

YouTube Link