A Perfect Life on Fakebook
Do you ever have to snooze people on Facebook? I do. And it’s not over what you might think. It’s not politics. Or vaccinations. Or family drama. It’s usually over perfection.
“Look at my perfect life.”
“Look at my smoking hot wife.”
“Look at my kids on the honor roll.”
“Look at this beautiful meal I prepared.”
“Look at how many pounds I’ve lost.”
“Look at me taking another selfie on the beach.”
Click. I just snoozed Mr. perfect for 30 days.
That’s why we should call it Fakebook instead of Facebook.
Sometimes, around these holidays, the reality of life crashes in. There doesn’t seem much to be thankful for. Instead of counting blessings we are counting disappointments. Loneliness sets in. We project joy but we are dying inside.
Circumstances around the first Christmas were like that. Mary must’ve felt a profound sense of aloneness. Who would believe her story (witnessed by nobody else) that an angel visited her, announced that she would get pregnant without the help of a man and that the resulting birth would be the son of God? That is not the kind of story sane people go around telling others. It’s ridiculous.
God’s plan for her life would result in her fiancé wanting to ditch her, her friends begging her to “just tell the truth about what happened,” and Mary becoming the scandal of the town. All these things drove Mary to find the only person who would understand her predicament; Elizabeth, who just happened to be also miraculously pregnant with John the Baptist. Misery loves company.
This is real life. Messy. Unpredictable. Difficult. Alone.
Mary is in the middle of God’s will and has surrendered her life to God’s plan only to be ostracized from her community and forced to have the baby in a foreign city in a smelly cave.
But…
In those unbearable times of aloneness God had sent a helper. When the angel appeared to Mary with the news about Jesus, he also said this;
Luke 1:35 “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…
The angel promised that the Holy Spirit, the comforter, the guide, the teacher, the strengthener, the one who empowers, the one who opens the doors, the one who makes a way, the one who intervenes, the one who intercedes and the one who pours out the love of God will be with her. She will be covered and overshadowed by his protective and providing wings.
She will not be alone. She will not have to do this alone. The Holy Spirit will supernaturally stand with her in all the difficulties. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit will also bring the provisions, repair relationships and bring any and all the help needed.
If you are a Jesus follower, you are not alone.