#SELFIES // #ESCAPETOREALITY

Movies, entertainment, celebrity culture, video games, digital media and social networks are often used to escape from reality. The goal of this 4-part series is to consider how to escape to the reality that comes in knowing Jesus.

Part 1 of #EscapeToReality

#YOU + #SELFIE

In 2006 Time Magazine declared “You.” to be the ‘Person of the Year’. This annual award that normally belongs to World Leaders and other notable figures was given to YOU… “Yes, you. You control the Information Age. Welcome to your world.”

It’s easy to think that I am at the centre of the universe when Time Magazine and a whole swag of advertising strategies tell me that I am.

Fast forward to 2013. The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is… SELFIE. A word that has its roots firmly planted in Australian slang; a selfie is “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.”

This makes sense. 7 years of being told that “You” are at the centre of the universe + a rapidly increasing number of camera-enabled smart phones + universal access to social media platforms = #SELFIE

When your school photos are made available or a collection of photos from an event you attended are uploaded to Facebook, who is the first person you look for? Yep, me too.

How do you think about self in a #selfie world? How are we supposed to think about our identity? WHO ARE YOU?

1. THE HORIZONTAL SELF

The wrong way to think about self is horizontally.

The horizontal self is defined by looking to those around us. Culture, marketing, social media, peer pressure and competitiveness all shape how we think about ourselves and how we seek to make ourselves better.

Mark Sayers observes that there is,

“…almost unbearable pressure on teens to be cool, sexy, or famous in order to feel worthwhile as human beings.” (The Vertical Self)

Social media teaches us to aim for cool, sexy and famous at all costs because it sucks to be lame, ugly and unknown.

How do you feel when you get less “likes” than you thought you would on that Instagram pic? Perhaps your desire for “likes” is part of viewing yourself horizontally.

In Luke 18, two dudes went to a temple to pray. One was super-religious, the other was super-sinful.

The religious guy prayed like this,

‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ (Luke 18:11-12, ESV)

He defined himself horizontally. He compared himself to those around him and he was very happy with himself. He was quite obviously better than the super-sinful guy. However, in the end, he didn’t go home acceptable with God.

How you do define your self?

Cool… Hipster? Surfer?
Sexy… Thigh-gap? Shredded-abs?
Famous… The most “friends”? The most “likes”?

Defining yourself like this, can lead to massive insecurity in life.

“One reason we struggle w/ insecurity: we’re comparing our behind the scenes to everyone else’s highlight reel.” (Steven Furtick on Twitter)

Thinking about yourself horizontally, looking for acceptance in how you perceive yourself compared to those around you, is the wrong way to think about self.

2. THE VERTICAL SELF

The right way to think about self is vertically.

It’s not that self doesn’t matter. It’s not that self is unimportant. Self matters!

Our identity and idea of self is to be shaped vertically, by our relationship to God.

In the opening chapter of the Bible, out of everything that God made, it says that people were made in a special and unique way.

“So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27, ESV)

Humans are made in the image and likeness of God. This is extraordinary! It means we can know him, relate to him and walk with him.

This means that who we are is defined by who God is.

Being made in the image of God means we make much of God rather than making much of self.

In the New Testament it describes Jesus as our Creator. It says that “all things were made by Jesus and for Jesus” (Colossians 1:16).

Our whole purpose for existence is “for Jesus”.

The vertical self is constantly thinking about how to live for Jesus, how to please Jesus, how to honour Jesus!

THE COPERNICAN REVOLUTION

In the 1500s Nicholas Copernicus, a mega maths nerd, put forward a revolutionary new way of thinking about the relationship of the sun and planet earth.

Up until that point, it had been considered that the sun revolved around the earth. Copernicus said it was the other way around, that the sun is at the centre and that planet earth was revolving around the sun.

People thought he was crackers. But we’ve since realised that Copernicus was on the money.

It might be that you need a Copernican-Style-Revolution to see that JESUS (the Son) is at the centre of the universe, and not you.

Our lives – online, offline and everything in between – need to revolve around him.

Make much of Jesus by using your image to point to His Image.

3. THE NEW SELF

The reality is that we fail to always consider how to live out our “vertical self”. Part 2 will explore more of this failure.

But the good news of Christianity is that not only are we MADE by Jesus, we are also SAVED by Jesus. Created and then Recreated.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)

Those who are in Christ are a new creation, called to live a life shaped by the vertical self and vertical identity. Earlier in 2 Corinthians 5 it says,

For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, ESV)

As those who have trusted in the death and resurrection of Jesus – we are to not live for ourselves, but for the sake of Jesus. We are to turn from self-centredness.

Define your identity by who you are in him. Created. Recreated.

ESCAPE TO REALITY

It might be you need to escape to reality.

You might be spending too much time defining yourself horizontally and not enough vertically.

Does this mean you can’t take #selfies anymore? If the thought of not taking selfies or not checking for likes on Instagram or not photobombing other people’s pics freaks you out… maybe you need to go on a selfie fast.

The key is to make much of Jesus. Live and post online for his fame, not your fame.

I met Athena Grace in 2013 when she volunteered at the three weekends of the KYCK (Katoomba Youth Convention).

If you were to view her Instagram or Tumblr, I’m sure you’d conclude she’s a pretty cool person. She takes photos of typewriters, landscapes, vintage bicycles and all things hipster. She also takes selfies.

However, what you’ll notice is that she constantly oozes love for Jesus. The issue is not whether you take selfies or not, the issue is whether you are making much of Jesus or self.

Jesus helps me to be honest and open about my failures and flaws – not even VSCO can cover the sin that always emerges when I forget who I am in Christ. But Jesus covers my sin because of His saving love. The deeper my worth as a woman is grounded in this reality, the more my desire grows to spread this love. Although the world will hate us, we are called to be unashamed of Jesus. For me, that doesn’t just mean having ‘Christian’ as my Facebook religious status, but actively and daily pursuing Christ in all of life – including social networking. And I pray that is what comes through in my photos. (Athena Grace from forthcoming Feb issue of MICI Magazine)

Check out her tumblr, I’m sure you will be encouraged to know Jesus more.

She is a great example of someone living within the culture and even part of the culture, but living counter-cultural in her approach.

Use your self to project God’s Self. Use your image to point to God’s Image.

Who are you? You are not cool, sexy or famous.

You are made by Jesus, made for Jesus.
You are saved by Jesus, saved for Jesus.
Ground your identity in that reality.

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POSTS IN THIS SERIES: #SELFIES; BREAD & CIRCUSES; THE FIGHT; LEVEL-UP.