BY JASON SCHIFO
I love people and good coffee, so I generally spend four to five hours a week working from a local coffee shop. Inevitably at some point in my time there someone will approach me and ask, “When is Jesus is coming back?” While I enjoy questions, the answer I have is really shorter than most would like because I have to admit, I just don’t know.
Jesus Himself says the same in Mark 13:32, “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” From Jesus’ own mouth I want to emphasize to you that if anyone says that they know when He is returning, that person is wrong.
Now, even though I don’t know when Jesus is coming back, what I can say without hesitation is that His return is near. And by “near,” I mean what the bible says, which is that His coming is imminent, unknown.
Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” The coming of Jesus Christ, His life, death, resurrection and ascension has ushered in the final season of the world; the last days, and his second coming is the next major step in history.
Jesus return began at His ascension, and it is nearer today than it was yesterday. That is what Paul, James, Peter and the writer of the Book of Hebrews believed, and what the faithful church has lived out for the last two thousand years. So while we don’t know the “when”, the Bible does promise that it will happen, and gives us some insight as to what it will look like around us.
Paul writing to his protege’ Timothy says, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.” (2 Timothy 3:1)
He says, “Don’t be surprised that life is tough; these are the last days, remember?” The future is not some time far off; it is here, now. I think we can agree that we are living in increasingly difficult days. Why? Because these are the last days.
Paul continues, “For people will be lovers of self” (2 Timothy 3:2).
The Greek word for love, in “lovers of self”, is “philos”, which is the kind of love that comes from our emotions. Basically, it is what we experience when we are attracted to someone. Lovers of self are drawn to who? Themselves.
Studies are now showing what many of you may have suspected, and the Bible already knew, that we are living in an increasingly narcissistic (lovers of self) society? Narcissistic personality traits have risen faster than any other statistic, and are found most often in our online lives.
This should not be a shock as we live in a world where people routinely sit across dinner tables, in the same room, and on dates checking in on social media rather than having face-to-face conversations.
If we scan the top downloads on the Apple App store and the Google Play Store would we be shocked to find that they are Facebook (4.1 billion downloads), Instagram (1.8 billion downloads), Twitter (834 million downloads), Snapchat (753 million downloads) and Youtube (644 million downloads)?
Why is this relevant? Because studies are finding that people who score higher on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory questionnaire (let’s call that the lovers of self-assessment) tend to spend more time on social media, tag themselves more often in photos, and update their social media feed more often.
Think about how much time is spent putting together, updating, and checking in on a page that is curated and dedicated to what we are doing, eating, wearing, thinking and who we are hanging out with.
I think there are a few real problems with this…
First, if we are honest, we don’t need to be encouraged to love ourselves. We naturally struggle with being too focused on ourselves (loving self). Paul says in Romans 12:3 “Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.” We must see ourselves as we really are.
Second, and this is important. The love of self eliminates any real concern for other people. It also sucks the life out of meaningful relationships, because ultimately everyone and everything else becomes expendable. It was the first sin of the universe when Adam and Eve chose themselves over God.
Third, is that so much of it is fake. People post perfect photos of perfect moments rather than the real us in our real moments. When was the last time you tagged yourself in a photo titled “just being a jerk and fighting with my wife”? And I am not saying you should do this, it is just an illustration. The lives we live on social media are not real. It is at the very least heavily edited, but in reality, very fake.
This is really quite important because that means that the selves we are loving aren’t the real us. Pause and take that in. The self that we are loving isn’t even the real us. The “lovers of self” we have become is not even lovers of the true self, but the lovers of some self-created self.
And that breaks my heart, because the Bible says that you were wonderfully and beautifully made by God. And in trying to create a better you, what you are really saying is that you can do it better than God did.
It reminds me of what the founder of Hobby Lobby, David Green, said, “The trouble with some self-made men (and women) is that oftentimes they end up worshiping their creator.”
Paul goes on to say to Timothy, they will be “proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. (2 Timothy 3:2-5)
I was thinking as I was writing this, where do I tend to find these kinds of people most often? You find them on social media. Isn’t it crazy that the people we are told to avoid are found in the most popular spaces in peoples lives, on social media?
This past week, I was reading psychology journals, both Christian and secular in preparation, and I began to see a trend. Testimony after testimony, and study after study showed that when people live their lives largely on social media they have a much greater chance of having the character traits that Paul warns Timothy about.
John Calvin notes while discussing 2 Timothy 3 that, “the lovers of themselves, which comes first, can be regarded as the source from which all the other traits spring forth.” The love of self is where it all starts.
The moment we place love of self over everything else both divine and human relationships are diminished, obedience to God and love of others becomes impossible, because you live for the benefit of yourself and not others.
Tom Hanks was once asked if actors had any traits which set them apart from other human beings. “Without a doubt,” he replied. “You can pick out actors by the glazed look that comes into their eyes when the conversation wanders away from themselves.”
Amazingly, studies also show that when people lessen social media use or leave it altogether, they no longer constantly seek validation of others, they focus more on doing meaningful and important things, they start to communicate in ways that lift up others, and they become more aware of the people around them.
One last thing that I want to address, and this is to the church whom I love and have given my life to…
Paul tells Timothy to be watchful of “having an appearance of godliness”. Which means trying to look like we are devoted to God, but our actions speak otherwise.
It means that while our social media profiles say that we are Christians, the followers of Jesus Christ, we also spend a considerable amount of time posting hateful, antagonistic, arrogant and unloving things to those who don’t agree or believe what we believe.
That brings us back to the original problem, that we love ourselves and what we have to say so much that we don’t care who we hurt in saying it.
And our online lives look far more like the list Paul says to avoid, than the people Jesus says to follow.
In John 13:35 Jesus Himself says, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
We can post all the Bible memes, Bible verses, and encouraging quotes from prominent pastors we want, but if we aren’t loving one another, the world won’t know we are Jesus’ followers.
I know that what I am saying isn’t a real popular message, but I think it needs to be said because as the church we can and are called to do better. We are called to shed the love of self so that we can love others like Jesus Himself loved us.
