It is amazing what passes for news nowadays. Now I will admit something that I probably shouldn’t on a blog; I love fact-checking posts on Facebook! It really gives me the joy to see that I could figure out something is obviously fake (with a quick Google search I might add) that so many people shared!
I once saw a post with over 1.2 million views and 600k shares that was a fake quote someone made to see if they could make it go viral.
This got me thinking, why are people so quick to share and believe something from only one source? Why is fakeness more and more noticeable?
I want to quote a famous scripture from Jeremiah, (not the one you see on mugs and Instagram influencers posts)
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?"
(“sjoh Chamie that’s rough” - the reader right now)
Hahaha, I know it is, but this is something I know is needed. People left to our own devices will always try and do what we think is right, and the justification usually is something in the lines of, “I knew in my heart that it was right.” That was most likely true, but it could also be a wind that got stuck and just needs to get out.
The reason why fakeness is so prolific and widespread is that the trustworthy source isn’t grounded in a fruitful foundation. When I start to trust my feelings more than God’s Word, accountability, and insight from Godly leaders and church, I become a self-governed and self-verified. In other words, I will try and seek out thoughts just like what I believe and use it as confirmation of my own preexisting biases.
This is not the calling we have as Christians. We read Paul puts this in a different perspective for us in the book of Romans. Paul is speaking about why it is difficult to follow the law and the inner conflict from living without sin.
“14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. 18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.”
Even Paul admits that our inner desires are often useful, yet our actions don’t align with that desire.
I want to encourage you in this. No matter what you are doing, you will find similar people, but the key isn’t to find people that will let you stagnate and not grow.
The key is we need people to help fact check us!
("YAY! I am helping", he said. Oh wait this isn’t my notes… oops)
We need people to keep us accountable.
We need a connect group where we are challenged to grow closer to God and read His word.
We need leaders that willing to teach Godly principles and truths without sugar-coating it.
We need the Holy Spirit's guidance daily to instruct us and help us renew our minds to what He has for us!
If you only remember two things, remember we have two things in common right now:
We both love Batman (you know it in your heart
Our hearts lie to us all the time, therefore need Godly guidance