In 2013 a new word was added to the Oxford English dictionary. It was the word selfie.
Most of us have posted them all over social media. This word is so familiar and entrenched in our day to day life that we have trouble remembering what life was like before social media.
Think about what a selfie really is: a picture, perfectly crafted to present the very best image of ourselves. We control the lighting and our expression. We can delete the image if the smile is wrong, hold the camera a little higher to make our eyes appear larger or add a filter to cover our imperfections. These pictures are way more than a self-portrait. They are a declaration of how we want others to see us and the ultimate publicity campaign for ourselves. When posted on social media, selfies translate into “likes” and “comments” and provide instant confirmation that we are accepted.
I recently read about Dr. Levi Harrison, a San Francisco based physician is warning people about taking too many selfies. He is diagnosing patients with what he calls, “selfie-wrist”, a form of carpal tunnel syndrome. It’s a tingling, sharp pain which comes from flexing your wrist inward or by holding your phone too long.
A 2018 study discovered that in the past six years there have been 259 deaths associated with taking a selfie. In front of a train, on a cliff, near a wild animal, even in front of a tornado.
We live in a selfie culture. It’s estimated that 1,000 selfies are posted on Instagram every second. One definition said, “A selfie is an unrealistic depiction of ourself, a planned representation of what we want to look like. It’s a polished image.
There’s nothing wrong with taking a selfie, and I’m not here today to tell us all to stop posting them I have something much more important to talk about. I believe our obsession with selfies can be linked to a spiritual problem. The struggle for our identity. It is the tension of who we are and who we want to be.
Our world is facing an identity crisis. The deep cry of this generation is “Who am I?” This longing and this confusion over identity fuels the need to be noticed which produces many of the selfies posted today.
For the Christian, identity shouldn’t be an issue. The Bible makes it very clear. We have been created in the image of God. Jesus paid for my sins on the cross, verifying my worth to God. The Bible says I have been called, chosen, accepted, forgiven, and redeemed. I am a child of God and my name is written in Heaven.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
So, why do we struggle so much with identity? We struggle because:
So, if you are a follower of Christ, let me tell you what God’s Word says about your true identity.
Today’s Challenge: Let’s reject the labels our culture attempts to put on us. Let’s rest in the security of knowing who we are in Christ. Let’s find contentment in the love of God and believe he has accepted us as his children.
