Day 13 — The Real You and Your Feed

“How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”

— John 5:44 (BSB)

You post a photo. Then you check. Ten minutes later you check again. Someone you thought was a friend hasn’t liked it. Someone you don’t even know has. By the evening you have a number, and somehow that number has become a verdict on you.

None of this is new. Jesus said these words to religious leaders long before phones existed. They lived for “glory from one another”: the respect of the crowd, the best seats, the admiring nods. Jesus said that hunger made it almost impossible for them to believe. When you’re constantly looking sideways at what people think, it’s very hard to look up at what God thinks.

Your feed works on the same hunger. It rewards the angle, the filter, the best ten seconds of the day. Over time, without meaning to, you start building a second self: the one online who is always fine, always funny, always somewhere interesting. Then you start to feel you have to protect that person. And the real you, the one who is tired, unsure, sometimes lonely, starts to feel like a fraud.

A. W. Tozer called this “the burden of pretense”: “the common human desire to put the best foot forward and hide from the world our real inward poverty.” He said hardly anyone dares to be just what they are “without doctoring up the impression.” He wrote that in 1948. He would recognise your timeline instantly.

Paul faced the same choice and settled it: “Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

Here’s the freedom in that. People’s approval is a moving target. It changes with the algorithm and the mood of the group chat. God’s verdict on those who belong to Jesus does not change: “your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Hidden, not displayed. Safe, not on show. You don’t have to win it again tomorrow.

This doesn’t mean you have to delete everything. Phones aren’t evil, and sharing life with friends is good. The question is who you’re performing for. Are you posting to share something, or to be told you’re worth something? Are you being honest, or building a mask that you then have to wear?

Try asking that before you post. Better still, try living some of your best moments with no audience at all. A kindness nobody films. A prayer nobody sees. Jesus said your Father “sees what is done in secret.” There’s a whole life you can live just for Him, and it turns out to be the one where you feel most like yourself.

Think about it: How different is the “you” on your phone from the you that your family sees at home? Which one feels more tiring?

Try this: For one day, before you post anything, ask: Am I sharing, or am I asking to be approved? If it’s the second, wait. Notice how it feels.

Go deeper: The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer — Tozer describes the exhausting burdens of pride and pretense, and the rest that comes when we accept God’s estimate of us and stop caring about the world’s. Start with chapter 11, “Meekness and Rest.”

Father, I admit I care a lot about what people think of me. I’ve built masks I’m tired of wearing. Help me seek the glory that comes from You, not the approval of the crowd. Let my real life be hidden with Christ, safe in You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.