Reflections

I walked around a still lake yesterday, wintry air stimulating exposed skin, the water like a mirror.  

It is holiday time in my little world, and I’m savouring the joys of Melbourne’s cafe culture and a pleasant walk most days.

Yesterday, for obvious reasons, I found myself thinking about reflections. We see reality reflected in the water, but the reflection itself is not reality.

As I walked, I was trying to meditate upon God, but my thoughts kept returning to a disturbing article I had read in a cosy cafe just moments before embarking upon this meander.

Social media

Social media is not reality. Reality may be reflected in our posts, but our posts, in and of themselves, are not the whole truth. Sometimes they distort reality, reflecting perhaps how we see ourselves or how we hope others see us. 

This blog post is not a diatribe against social media. I use it daily. It soothes the immature part of me that craves approval. I use it to try and write something … even if only a couple of words … and so affirm the part of me that wants to be a writer (but writes little). And I’m a busybody and like to know what is going on in the lives of people I care about.

This newspaper article suggests that we are doing ourselves no favours when we overindulge in social media. When travelling, I limit myself to ten minutes a day on social media, otherwise I tend to disconnect with the people and places right in front of me. I should impose a similar rule on myself at home too. I will. Starting now. 

Immaturity

The article above suggests that it is primarily young Australians who struggle with poor mental health, probably (they infer, but don’t dare state) as a result of overindulging in social media. Yet in a sense, we are all immature. At least, compared to what is to come in eternity. The oft-quoted 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians—the “love chapter”—speaks about such immaturity. The apostle Paul wrote:

When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.  

1 Corinthians 13:11-12 NLT

Paul seems to suggest that we make our way through life as if we were only gazing at reflections and missing the fullness of reality. In particular, we see only a reflection of God’s nature. And it’s okay. We’re immature. Childish even. Reflections are all we can see. 

Yet Paul also points out that despite the temporal being like reflections, here today and gone tomorrow, faith, hope and love will remain, and the greatest is love (1 Corinthians 13:13). The “love chapter” is well named.

Known by God

“… just as God now knows me completely” (1 Corinthians 13:12b NLT)

God knows us completely. Inside-out. Though we cannot fathom the intricacy of the Almighty, he knows every quirk and quibble about us. Not the perfect persona presented on social media posts, but the ‘real me’. 

He knows my childish craving for approval. He knows your hidden struggles. He knows that man’s fragile ego. He knows that woman’s secret longings. 

He knows us completely, and yet God doesn’t simply grudgingly accept us. He wholeheartedly loves us! Hence the gospel of Jesus.

Reflecting God

What’s more, God is working through his Spirit to transform us into the likeness of his Son, our Lord. We might not be able to see him clearly from the perspective of our limited, temporal beings, but we do at least see something, because he has revealed himself to us through Jesus. As we gaze on what we can see, we imperfectly reflect his glory to those around us. The Apostle Paul wrote to the same people to whom he had previously addressed “the love chapter” (the early Corinthian church) saying:

So all of us who have had that veil [of Moses] removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image. 

2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT

Like I said earlier, this post isn’t a rant against social media. Quite the opposite, in fact. I wonder how I can wisely use my social media activity to reflect the One who knows us fully and through whom we can be saved. 

Take Home Messages

God gave me three ‘take home messages’ from my mediative meander around the lake yesterday.

1. God knows us completely—weaknesses, warts, worries and all.
2. Prioritise gazing at reality rather than reflections, particularly when it comes to social media. Use it, but with caution. 
3. Strive to gaze at God as best we can in this temporal state, and in doing so, may we reflect him well to a watching world.