Uh oh! I think I may have “friended” Satan on Facebook!

Although social media has no doubt changed the way we think and live, but how beneficial is that for those in Christ? 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, this can become dangerous territory. After all, Satan is described as going about like “a lion seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8, NIV).

Satan uses Facebook to destroy 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. 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. Many studies show that Facebook is the most common place that an affair starts.

Satan uses Facebook to dominate your thoughts. Aimlessly scrolling through the mind-numbing newsfeed is one of the most dangerous things a Christian can do. 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. The temptation to scroll back up for one more look is even more dangerous because it’s privately done. 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. Matthew 5:8 tells us that the “pure in heart will see God!” Keep your heart pure and fixed on the Father. Get rid of anything that might hinder that. It’s absolutely worth it, and absolutely deadly if you don’t. “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers” (1 Peter 4:7, NIV).

Satan uses Facebook to occupy all your time. Social media is a very handy tool that Satan uses to rip your attention and affection from God. If you compare your daily amount of time spent on Facebook to prayer, how does it measure up? 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. “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, NIV).

Satan uses Facebook to create self-worship. I do not mean devil worshiping as in pentagrams, black robes, or any of that garbage. What I’m talking about is much more subtle and inward focused. 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.” Satan wants you focused on yourself. If you’re inward focused, you won’t be focused on Jesus. Satan wants your source of self-worth to only be found in the empty praise and attention of others, not the atoning blood of Christ. “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves” (Philippians 2:3, NIV).

Facebook is your friend when you use it to God’s glory. It should never be the place to air out personal grievances, to say things in the cyber-world you wouldn’t say face to face, and certainly not the place to have an illicit affair. 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.


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