Are You Serving For Christ or For Likes? Living in a Digital World.

Do you feel like your worth and validation is based on how many likes you get on social media?

Do you feel the urge to get your phone out and post or take a video anytime you do a random act of kindness or serve others?

Do you post valuable content because you know that you will get more likes and followers from it?

If you answered yes to any of those questions.... It's time to ask yourself:

"Am I serving for Christ or for likes?"

The world that we live in today is a digital world where validation and popularity is determined by the amount of likes on Instagram or the amount of followers or subscribers that we have on the different platforms that we're on. It's important as Christians to really realize and recognize when we're having this servant mindset, when we're serving others, are we doing it for Christ or are we too focused on this digital way of thinking, the digital world of being so consumed in likes and followers and subscribers? In this episode I go into how to recognize who you are serving for. I pair this with scripture and some ways to get realigned and focus on what's important in your life.

First I wanted to say quick prayer.. Lord I pray that you lift up every single person reading this right now. I pray that you open up your hearts to receive your love, mercy, grace, strength, and power. I pray that you open up our eyes to see the truth of your words and that you guide us, protect us, and make our paths straight. And I pray that we lean on you every step of the way. I love you with my whole heart. In Jesus' name, Amen.

We are called by Christ to serve and love others. Just like we read in our Bible study on chapter 13 of the book of John, where Jesus washes his disciples feet and that's him showing his love and affection towards his disciples. He leads by example to show them that they also need to have that pure and sacrificial love for others, serve others, help them, and prepare them to have a new life and eternal life through Christ.

Here is some scripture to read about serving others:

"In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

-Matthew 5:16

"Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you."

-Matthew 5:42

"For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

-Mark 10:45

"Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality."

-Romans 12:13

So in all of these verses that we see here we know that as Christians we are called to serve others, but in this digital world where people are being praised for showing these random acts of kindness and helping others, it's important for us to stand firm in our faith and our relationship with Christ and to not be conformed by the worldly things. What I mean by this is when we're serving others, we should be doing it to help them, to practice hospitality, to teach them about God and how amazing he is, and to just genuinely care for other people that need us, need our help, need our love, need our kind words, however we're serving them, genuinely just wanting to do it for them to be there for them. It can be so easy to get so caught up in all of the noise of social media and trying to find our worth and validation through likes, subscribers, and followers. Trust me, I was there.

If you know my story then more than likely you know that I did network marketing for over two years. I actually talked about social media before on my podcast and just all of the lies and deceptions of this world. I honestly used to feel like my worth and validation came from how many likes I had on Facebook and if I didn't get more than a hundred likes on my photos I would just tear apart the photos and just think of all of the things that were wrong with me. My worth felt like it was in how many likes I got, how many followers I got, how many comments I got, and that life can lead you in a rabbit hole.

Whenever we're living life like that, when we're so focused on how many likes or followers we can get, subconsciously in our mind our worth and our value starts getting based on how many likes, comments, subscribers, and followers that we have. Whenever we don't get as many Likes on a post or we don't see the numbers increasing we start to doubt ourselves and start to think that we are less worthy. As disciples of Jesus Christ we already have the love, the mercy, the acceptance, value, appreciation, and all of these things from Jesus Christ. In his eyes we are so worthy. He loves us so much that he died on the cross to forgive us of our sins so that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. So our worth, acceptance, and value should not be based on how many likes we get on our posts or video, or how many followers or subscribers that we gain.

If every time that we do something nice for someone, anytime that we want to serve others, we want to pull out our phones and post about it, or make a video about it, we really need to reassess and evaluate: "Am I serving for Christ or for likes?" "Am I genuinely doing this to help others, to serve others, and show love to others?" "Or am I just doing this to get validation from people on the internet to feel like I am worthy or accepted in the digital world?" Here's a big one because this is something that I used to do, I'm not proud of it but this is something that I used to do, If every time you make an encouraging or valuable post and then you check every five minutes to see how many likes you've gotten, you have to really ask yourself "Am I serving for Christ or for likes?" That was a biggie for me and that is why a lot of the times on the weekends, I do use social media detox to keep my focus on the important things in my life (my relationship with Christ, spreading the gospel, and spending quality time with family.)

If you are one of those people that feels like your worth and your validation is based on how many likes, follows, or subscribers that you have then do a social media detox. Start out just doing once a week. Unplug from social media completely, delete the apps on your phone, and don't get on there for a whole day and then work your way up. You can do it all weekend, three or four days, for a whole week, or longer. No one can tell you how long to not be on social media but if you catch yourself wanting to post on social media or make videos about stuff anytime that you want to do something nice for someone, to serve someone, or give someone value, then you may want to do a social media detox and really just dig deep, pray, and evaluate if you're really serving for Christ.

I just want to point out, I know I'm kind of saying this a little late in my blog, but I'm not saying this to bash anyone. If anyone does this, if anyone posts videos doing random acts of kindness, or makes a post about it, or anything like that, I'm not saying this to look down on anyone or frown upon anyone. I've been there. I have made posts just to get likes so I get it. I know exactly how that is.

As followers of Jesus Christ and as his disciples, we have to humble ourselves, show love, kindness, and serve others without expecting anything else in return. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for us. He didn't want anything from it. He humbled himself and washed his disciples feet to show the sacrificial love that he has for us. As Jesus' disciples our main focus should be on spreading the gospel, following Christ, and serving and loving others because we genuinely want to not because we think that our video will go viral if we show a random act of kindness or if we'll get more likes if we post about this certain thing because that's what other people are doing. Whenever it gets to that point where you're constantly just seeking to do things for others just to gain more subscribers, followers, likes, and comments then that defeats the whole purpose. Stuff starts getting very cloudy in your mind and you may subconsciously not even realize that you're serving for likes and being caught up in the deception and the lies of this world and thinking that your worth and your validation is based on how many likes you get and how many followers you get.

Having a relationship with Christ, following Christ, spreading the gospel, serving others, and helping others in need, that is what is important. You don't have to showcase it every time you do it either. God can see what you do. God knows everything. He knows your heart. He sees your actions. All the validation you need is from God, not from worldly things, and not from social media. So I hope this episode helped you guys to really just think and evaluate if you're serving for Christ or for likes. If you are subconsciously serving for likes and maybe you didn't even realize it, I'm not talking down to you. I'm not judging you in any way, because I was there. I've been there before, but now is the time to really reassess and evaluate what is important. You may want to do a social media detox, get off social media for a day, a few days, or a week. Whatever is going to help you with your relationship with Christ, to grow spiritually, to get realigned in your purpose and your calling, and to be able to help others and serve others without the mentality of gaining likes and followers, take whatever time you need. Pray to God, strive to have that close relationship with him, and he will guide you through every step of the way.

I love you guys so much.

Never forget to choose faith over fear.

-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)

p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, business, mindset, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along with this hot mess life of mine. New episodes every week.

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