More Than a Facebook Friendship

I must confess I love getting new notifications. I am definitely a Facebook’er. I remember discovering it in the dorms with my best friend and thinking it was quite possibly one of the coolest things ever invented, clearly that thought has caught on.

I think it has its good and bad qualities though. It is great to connect with people you wouldn’t normally be friends with and makes it easier to stay in touch with people who live far away. On the other hand, I think it can be addictive and a time waster. Mostly, I think it gives a false reality of relationships.

Through profiles, wall posts, pictures and status updates we form this idea that we “know” someone. That we are their friends, yet outside of stalking them on Facebook we don’t know much about them (nor do we actually talk or hang out with them). Obviously, this is not the scenario in every case but in many, it is.

Okay, so don’t stop reading… I’m not bashing Facebook here; I’m talking about relationships.

 Parallel with Facebook, I think we have a false reality about our relationships with God. Some of us could talk all day about God and how we’re Christians, we go to church, and we believe in Jesus. However, during the rest of the week there’s no effort to pray or spend quality time with God. We think the occasional wall post, message, or poke is enough. That's how we "know" God. Is that a relationship? Is that even a friendship? What kind of ‘friend’ to God are you really?

Are you the friend who only comes to talk when you need something or are having a hard time? Are you the fake friend who is only a friend when you want to be? Would you stick up for Him? Are you best friends with the ways of the world and God is merely an acquaintance? Are you a loyal-true-dedicated friend? He knows you inside and out, how well do you really know him?

Let’s throw out an example. If you asked me about my roommate and good friend Diana, I could go on and on about how wonderful she is, that I am so blessed by her and how important she is to me. But if throughout my days I never communicate, spend time with, share my feelings and love on her, am I really in a close friend relationship with her? Of course not. This is what we do with God. We “believe” in him. We like him maybe even love him, just not enough to actually spend time with him.

God wants to be more than a sporadic Facebook profile check-in. He wants our time, our prayer, our friendship; a relationship that’s more than a once a week, “you’re really great” wall post. He wants YOU—fully, attentively, uninterrupted—to sit and hang out with him in person.

Sign off Facebook. Close your computer. Turn your phone off. Yep, like right now… discover God. Get to know him on more than a surface level. Be more than a mediocre Facebook relationship.

“One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not for lack of time.” – John Piper