As a child, the word "Friends" meant a small group of people that I liked to be around, and they liked to be around me. These were the people I hung out with, played sports with, got in trouble with, laughed with, cried with, fought with, and just did life with. (shout out to my childhood friends growing up in Crook, Colorado)
As a young adult in college (University of Colorado - go Buffs!), the word "Friends" began to have a different meaning. I was "friends" with people because we lived in the same dorm, or had the same class, or went to the same parties. These were people I knew and had some things in common with, but not like those childhood friends.
As an adult, I've seen the word "Friends" mean an insanely popular TV show. It's been used to describe the people I work with (my "work friends"). And, now, it means anyone who cares to follow each other on social media - these are now also my "Friends".
Seemingly in an instant, the concept of "Friend" went from a deep, personal relationship, to a simple statistic that showed others how popular you are. The concept of "Friend" went from quality to quantity. It went from personal to public, from relationship to some strange, external measurement of our worth.
The pressure to accumulate as many "Friends" as possible is real. We can measure our worth by our number of Followers. If we have 100 "Friends", we want 200. If we have 1,000 "Friends", we want 2,000.
If you get enough "Friends", at some point (not sure exactly when) you become "Famous".
And, that's the real goal.....right?
Maybe not.
Is chasing social media fame (or any other kind) really what fulfills us?
Chasing fame for fame's sake can leave us still feeling empty. Here's what King Solomon said about it:
"Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind."
Accumulating "Friends", chasing fame (social media, money, power), is like chasing the wind.
But, what does truly fulfill us?
For more on this - see our message "Chasing Fame" from Orchard Church in Brighton, Colorado:
Orchard Church - People Helping People Find and Follow Jesus in the Brighton, Commerce City & Northeast Denver Colorado metro area. You can check out Orchard Church in person or online - for more info please visit our website.