The Selfie.

Smiling, practicing your best stoic "hot" face, readjusting your hair... a little lipstick for the girl, a bicep flex for the guy- and SNAP! There it is. There you have it. A perfect picture of yourself.

Will you Instagram it? Post it to Facebook? Tweetpic? Or will you just keep it your little secret?

Don't act like you have no idea! These questionable photos have flooded our Twitter feeds and Facebook news reels. Is it time to stop this smart Phone, iPhone, Blackberry "this is me" picture madness? 

I've heard some call it a "selfie."  Are you above the selfie? 

I'm not. 

(Apparently)

We're pretty obsessed with ourselves, aren't we?

Correction, I'm selfish. 

I'll speak for me and say this it's "all-about-me" obsession inflates when I have a Smart Phone, online profile with thousands of photos and my documented life, my own blog, and a program where I supposedly form something in 140 characters or less that must mean something to the world. 

Does this stop online? Oh no, that's just the beginning! I've made decisions and said words and worn specific sets of clothes in order to simply impress those that are surrounding me. I stress about my future and finding a man and keeping a job and finishing school and staying in shape and.... I'M SO VAIN! And I probably think this blog post is about me, too! Lord, save me from my stupid self(ie).

We have the ability form our identity to our friends and family online that could easily be far from our true selves. Have you ever seen a selfie that looks nothing like the person in the picture?

In Matthew 10, when Jesus is talking to his disciples, he tells them they shouldn't love their father, mother, or children more than Him. Then, he tells them they must sacrifice, "taking up their cross daily" (v.8). As if this wasn't hard enough, Jesus tells them to lose their own lives! For what in return? Finding it back, full, in Him. 

He goes on to explain that when we love by invite others in our lives, letting them stay, and feeding them, we are serving God himself. When Christ came, we could forget about this self-driven life and gain a life led by God where we're given the opportunity to take part in what is HE doing.

Our actions will speak for themselves and our lives will be a reflection of God's love. When we decide to give our lives to God and seek a Christ-like, selfless heart, our pictures will form themselves and will be much more beautiful than the one we've posed and taken of ourselves. 

Now someone tell me... Why am I still trying to make the selfie work?

"Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts."-2 Corinthians 3:1-3