Is Satan Behind Your Facebook Page?
By Topher Haddox
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.” ( Psalm 19:14)
I believe that social media can be an effective platform for the spread of the gospel. There are plenty of Christ-centered resources in the online community that I use on a daily basis to help me grow spiritually. But if we’re honest, we probably spend a small portion of our time advancing our spiritual growth, while the rest is spent on aimless scrolling. We spend hours a day consuming endless information, pictures, and videos without any safeguard for our minds. For Christians, I’ve found that this is dangerous territory. This potentially turns the mind into an open plain, with Satan prowling through the grass like a lion, waiting to devour. (1 Peter 5:8)
Here are four ways the enemy tries to devour you through social media:
Satan wants your marriage.
It starts with a like here, and a like there. She’s only a friend. You justify the innocent interaction of the like button because it doesn’t cross any solid lines. You gradually push the boundary line further and further back. Maybe the likes and comments lead to private conversations. Remember, sin is never satisfied with the amount of you it has.
Sooner or later you are hiding conversations from your spouse. Before you know it, you’re involved in a mental, perhaps even a physical affair.
Satan wants your pure thoughts.
We live in a pornographic culture and it is almost impossible to avoid while scrolling. Couple that with the ease of giving into lustful thoughts and it’s a disaster for holy living.
Satan will whisper that it’s okay to look because there’s no harm. Who’s going to know? It can be your little pet sin. But it won’t stop there.
Keep your heart pure and fixed on the Father. Get rid of anything that might hinder that. It’s absolutely worth it, and deadly if you don’t.
Satan wants your time.
Psalm 1 tells us the blessed man meditates day and night on the Word of God. How can we know what to pray unless we meditate on His Word? How can we read the Word, much less meditate on it day and night if we’re constantly scrolling through social media? We’re simply choosing the pleasures of this world rather than spending time with the God of the universe. It’s that simple.
Because we’re not pursuing God like we should, we get bored and are attempting to fill the void with constant entertainment.
Satan wants your worship.
Social media can train us to worship the idol of self. We essentially create mini shrines of ourselves, striving for praise via the almighty like.
You can’t be self-absorbed and have compassion for others. If the enemy can keep us distracted by keeping our faces buried in a screen, then we won’t be able to see the hurting world around us. We certainly won’t be missions-minded if we’re consumed with our own lives.
In 1 Corinthians 10:31, Paul tells us to glorify God in whatever we do. This includes social media. We can either wield Facebook for God’s glory, or Satan’s.
