Facebook friends: What’s the point? ​by Diana Kerr

     

                Happy Friendship Day! You get one guess who created this holiday—yep, Hallmark! Shocking.

                Sorry, Hallmark, but I have no plans to send your greeting cards to my friends today. There are just way too many: 1,337 to be exact.

                I’m talking about my Facebook friends. Yes, I know, that seems like an excessive amount. Honestly, I actually know all those people.

Still, that is way too many friends to maintain relationships with, which makes you wonder, what’s the point of all those Facebook friends? Most people’s instinctive answer would be, “To keep in touch.” But is that really our goal?

                Have you realized how easy it is to let the devil suck you into comparison on social media and in wanting to make yourself look good? Envy, jealousy, pride, and boastfulness all show up so easily, tainting our friendships in real life and online.

                For me personally, it takes conscious effort to use social media as a tool for good instead—for encouraging and for sharing my faith. When you’re about to post something on Facebook for your friends to see, ask yourself why you’re doing it. Are you doing this to build people up or to bring them down? To encourage and inspire or to make them feel jealous or lesser than you? “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29).

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   Devotion used by permission of Time of Grace®. For more information visit www.timeofgrace.org

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Photo by Sam Manns on Unsplash