Since we acquired internet at our house this summer I decided it was time to dip my toe into the social media universe and get a little experience in those worlds myself before my teenagers had any access.  I’m still not on Facebook but did start following some ministries on Instagram and Twitter.  The ministry content has been great and as long as you keep your feed limited to about 20, a quick scan won’t take up more than a minute or two a day.  That said, I could see right away that if you don’t set parameters and just start following every person you’ve ever known, your screen can quickly become a rabbit hole from which some seldom, if ever, emerge.

Besides sucking up your time, I’ve noticed another alarming feature of Instagram in particular, and that is the propagation of lies.  I don’t just mean the staged, image-driven lifestyle idolatry, I mean the really sinful-advice/worldly-wisdom/bad-theology that shows up on every Christian women’s feed under the guise of self-care/self-love.  Since we’re studying birds right now here’s one that stuck out to me in particular.  @lizziejank reposted it with the appropriate pants on fire pasted on to identify the statement as the lie from hell that it is.

Ladies, think of Eve a minute.   What method did Satan use to deceive her?  Was it guilt, fear, intimidation, bullying, put-downs? No!  It was lies just like the one above.  “Eve, don’t you want to be like God?  Don’t you want to really soar?”  And how does she respond?  “Yeah, that fruit would actually be good for me, it looks delightful and I deserve it.”  And thus sin and death had immediate lift off.

Even an elementary knowledge of the New Testament would serve to filter lies like “First love yourself” out of your daily diet of Instagram crumbs.  But you’re not going to be able do that unless you are personally feasting on the Word of God.  By that I mean actually reading it yourself.  Like regularly.  And in bigger chunks than your “Verse of the Day” app.  That’s why I love the Bible Reading Challenge for men and women.  If you haven’t heard about it I would strongly encourage you to check it out by clicking here.  Our family is already doing a chronological Bible reading plan together but I really didn’t want to miss out on the Bible Reading Challenge so I signed up via the YouVersion App and am listening to the daily readings on the audio ESV!

You’ve got to take those Instagram lies captive ladies and the only way to do that is by filtering everything through the Word of God.  So as John Piper so eloquently said, “Eat. Bible.” That, my friends, is the ONLY way to soar.

Have you checked out our new old blog, Of Skies and Seas?  Click here to see what’s hatching in our homeschool nest!