In an April 25, 2022, article, PC Magazine reported that Facebook removed 6.5 billion fake user accounts in 2021 compared to 3.5 billion active users in the same year. Entrepreneur shared that in 2019 one in four people have a fake social media profile somewhere.
I readily admit those statistics may focus on scammers with nefarious motives; however, I believe the number of people who create a false personal narrative (or one that operates in the gray areas of life) on social media—not to swindle but to shape themselves for others—is creating an identity crisis culture.
In December 2020, Emily Webber wrote regarding Generation Z, “Excessive social comparison and communication on these platforms can cause serious implications on body image, mental health, self-worth, and overall identity development for users.”
So, what do those first three paragraphs have to do with a post on ReadJohnPace and spiritual encouragement?
Because as believers, we cannot allow today’s identity crisis culture to influence our everyday Christianity. It is so very necessary to accept who we are not in embracing the uniqueness of who we are in Christ.
Notice two very prominent men in Scripture who accepted who they were not in being who they were to fulfill God’s call for their life:
John the Baptist answered the Pharisees when they questioned who he was, “And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No… He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias” (John 1:21, 23).
“By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward” (Hebrews 11:24-26).
Whether it is a religious group calling you to be something you are not or the renouncing of a worldly genealogy, always remember the Lord made you to be you in Him. Your uniqueness is necessary to fulfill His plan for the ages.
Let us walk together in our individuality tempered together in Christ, conformed to His image for a witness to the lost and dying world.
Amen.
