Gotcha! One mention of an internet sensation and you had to sneak a peek.

What is it with us?

We have a terrible habit of needing to be current. News that is two days old is no longer relevant, we want only the “Breaking News!”

We are slaves to “What’s happening now?”

We have to be up on all the fashions, songs, shows and movies. Social media’s heartbeat pumps out moment by moment events, instant experiences and immediate thoughts.

Memories are now kept digitally, and they must include every insignificant moment of the day: “Look! My dog peed in the woods”, “My child picked up a penny off the ground”, “A stick fell off a nearby tree.” And for some mysterious reason that is woven in the fabric of eternity, I need to let the world know every intimate, embarrassing, and mundane detail. I just know my friends are hanging on my every post!!

Wait three months and that $12 movie can be rented for a dollar. But it’s too old by then. We don’t want to be left out. We need to do something and go somewhere for spring break because everyone is doing something and going somewhere on spring break. 

God forbid if we should be left out! 

Are you eating Kale? Drinking the new Perrin Ale? Taking advantage of the advertised Meijer’s sale? You’re not? Everyone else is! 

Is your son joining the team? Is your wife cooking lean? Have you bought the new whitener so your teeth will gleam? Why not? Everyone else has?

It’s always been like that this. If you want to be accepted, you need to keep up. Why else would the Kardashians be famous? Their product is selling “in your face immediacy” while we all become “idiots” for watching them.

In 1 Samuel 8, Israel wanted to ditch God and throw out the prophets because, “there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations.” 

Every mom has said it, “If your friends jump off a cliff does that mean you have to too?”

“If the other nations have a king do you have to too?”

“If your roommate has his girlfriend sleep over do you have to too?”

“If everyone is becoming a beer connoisseur do you have to too?” 

“If everyone is using the ‘f’ word do you have to too?”

“If everyone is detoxing, running, selling, wearing yoga pants, do you have to too?”

“If Johnny talks with a lisp and likes to wear dresses do you have to too?” 

It all depends on how you answer this one simple question: 

“Do I seek to please men or God? If I were still trying to please men I would not be a servant of Christ!” ( Galatians 1:10)