2 Timothy 3:1-7 —This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
When I wrote about mirrors yesterday, I didn’t mean to encourage narcissism! If you’re looking in a mirror while you’re reading this, stop it!
Every year the Oxford English Dictionary selects a “word of the year”. This year the word is “selfies”. I think I hear the first editor, James Murray, spinning in his grave!
“Selfie: Noun, informal, a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website”. To quote the OED: “The Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is a word or expression that has attracted a great deal of interest during the year to date. Language research conducted by Oxford Dictionaries editors reveals that the frequency of the word “selfie” in the English language has increased by 17,000% since this time last year.” Oh my! How interesting we think we are.
We are “lovers of our own selves”. This is one more sign that the end times are upon us. Now, don’t misunderstand me. I’m not predicting the imminent end of the world. But I am saying that this is the kind of thing Jesus was talking about in the Olivet discourse when He said “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.”
That passage from 2 Timothy is interesting. I might even start to use it as a way to filter my social media posts. Am I being boastful, proud, incontinent, fierce, despising those who are good”? Then that post doesn’t get posted. Maybe I’ll use it to think about my “friends” too. Are they blasphemers, disobedient to parents, without natural affection, false accusers”? They might find themselves being unfriended!
“Now hold on”, I hear you saying, “aren’t you overreacting to a bit of harmless fun?” Well maybe I am. But vanity and pride led to satan’s fall. Ezekiel 27:17 tells of the folly and the fall: “Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.” I’m not so sure the fun is harmless — Proverbs 16:18 says “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
Swear off selfies. You know it makes sense!