Idols: A Reflection Post

This past week I've gone without facebook. It's a little silly... and embarrassing... how hard it has been. The first couple of days, I kept automatically going to facebook when I got on my computer, so I had to log out of facebook so that I wouldn't keep going to my facebook page. Then there were a couple of times that I wanted to tell someone something but realized I didn't have their phone numbers. So I thought, "Oh, it'll be ok if I just go on facebook to message them to get their numbers." But then I thought about it and realized what I wanted to tell them wasn't that important. They were things that I could wait to tell them until I am back on facebook. I only thought it was urgent because I'm used to being able to communicate with people at the click of a button. I'm not used to having to wait.

Here's my honesty: Through reading "Not a Fan" (Kyle Idleman), spending time in the Word of God, prayer, and interactions with fellow Jesus followers, I've felt convicted in the amount of time I spend on facebook. At first I ignored the conviction for several reasons.
1. It's such a small thing... you know, compared to drunken parties and worshiping money. But I know deep down that's not true. An idol is an idol. And the first commandment says, "You should have no gods before me." 
2. Everyone's doing it. Everyone is on facebook... plus most people have a hundred other social media outlets too. There are tons of Christians "worse" than me. I mean, I don't even have a smartphone, so that's got to be a point in my favor. But God doesn't compare. He couldn't care less how "good" I am compared to others. He just looks at my heart alone and says, "Alisha, do YOU love me more?"
3. There's good parts about facebook. It's not like looking at pornography where there's nothing positive about it. I mean, I'm interacting with people... communicating with friends and family who live far away. But there are many things in this world that are good that can be used wrongly. 
4. I hate admitting that I'm not perfect. And this is an are where I'm certainly not perfect.

And as God was working on my heart, I realized that because I was trying to justify my use of facebook, this proved that it had become an idol.

So it does me no good to just take a week off of facebook. That's only good for one week. But I haven't felt convicted to completely give up facebook either. I knew during this time off, I needed to come up with a game plan though so that I didn't let facebook be an idol in my life.
I realized a big part of my problem is that I log on facebook first thing in the morning, and from there, I spend several hours online until I "catch up" on my social life. In order to make sure God is first, I'm now staying off of my computer until I have spent my time with God for the day. Ben and I are reading through the Bible with Bible Gateway's Reading Plan. So each morning, I will start my day off by reading the passages listed and praying, before logging onto my computer. I guess by writing it on my blog, I have a pretty large crowd to keep me accountable.

What idols are in your life? What things are your struggling to let go of? What things take up your time? This song below, by Jimmy Needham (called "Clear the Stage") is convicting and beautiful. Listen to it!