A
thought by Craig Groeschel (2015-10-27) from his book, #Struggles: Following Jesus in a Selfie-Centered World (p. 50).
Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to
buy the book.)
Craig says,
“It used to be that when someone said another person was a friend, you
understood exactly what they meant. A friend was someone who shared common interests
or bonds, someone you enjoyed being around, someone you did life with. But it’s
not that simple anymore, is it? Now a friend can be someone you’ve never met
IRL (in real life). Friends can be people who follow what you post on social
media. If they follow you, but you don’t follow them back, that’s one kind of
friend. If you follow them, but they don’t follow you, that’s another kind of
friend. And if you both follow each other, that’s yet another kind of friend.”
Then Craig
says, “Currently, the average American Facebook user has 338 Facebook
friends. But surveys indicate that the
average American has only two friends they consider to be close. As shocking as that statistic is, I think one
is even sadder: 25 percent of Americans today say they have zero close
friends! The #struggles are real. Does
it really matter that you have 338 Facebook friends if you have no one to share
your life with?... Technology supposedly saves us time, yet we seem to have
even less time— at least for really relating to people. We have lots of online
interactivity, but that doesn’t mean we have any personal intimacy.”
Now in this
we feel we really don’t need this intimacy because of all these friends who
give us all the Likes which affirms us but there is a problem in this.
Craig says, “We
are meant to have deep, sometimes difficult feelings of loneliness to motivate
us toward the kinds of contact with others that meet our deeper, long-term
needs. Every time we seek instant affirmation, we ignore our basic human
condition of loneliness and the opportunity of loneliness that drives us toward
real friendship, real intimacy, first with God and then with others. We’re
living for Likes, but we’re longing for love.”
So don’t
settle. We really do need each
other. As Craig says, “Presence is
powerful.” So use your loneliness to
break out and drive you toward real friendship, real intimacy, first with God
and then with others..
Do you really need to do that?
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