Do you pay much attention to the bio of a social media profile? For anyone reading who has no clue what a social media bio is, it’s a small biography of who you are, what you’re about and why people should care about what you have to say. It’s a snapshot of who you are conveyed in few words for an audience with a short attention span. That’s all of us on social media pretty much, am I right? I use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Yes, I’m on all of those (for now). The title of this post would probably get more interest if I said why I was giving up social media. Anyways, I have decided to ditch my bio on these platforms (sort of) and here’s why.
The chopping, changing bio
For years I have chopped and changed my bio depending on what I want to say about myself at that point in time. Writer and blogger. Writer and award-winning blogger. Writer and Premier Digital Award-winning blogger. Wife. Mother to one. Mother to two. Just ‘Mother’ so as not to disclose how many children I have to avoid judgements there. Homemaker (sometimes taking that out because of the stereotypes people have about homemakers). Stay-at-home mum. Actually, I think I never used the SAHM in my bio because of the ongoing ‘work from home mum (WAHM)/work outside of the home mum/ stay-at-home mummy wars’. Homeschooler was another one of my additions (changed shortly to home educator, because believe it or not, there’s a difference). I would carefully consider what I wanted to be known for. I unfortunately cared a great deal about what others thought about me. Sometimes I would wear my home educator badge with pride. Then I would delete it because I feared that people would make judgements about me. And maybe they do or did. Maybe no one has ever read my social media bio. Maybe I have too much pride that people are actually thinking about me at all! Maybe no one cares! I know a lot of people don’t even bother filling theirs’s in. What’s the big deal?
Does a social media bio matter?
Well, it definitely serves a purpose. I mean, I find it useful when I am trying to determine who to follow on Instagram and Twitter based on shared experiences or theology, for example. It’s helpful when it comes to finding out more about a business or a product. There’s a place for it. Sometimes people need to fill it in to help them to be found in searches online. But I am tired of trying to keep up with being ‘seen’ online. I just want to write and trust God with the marketing. My posts don’t always get seen and I have precious little time to worry about algorithms right now!
Don’t mishear me. I am not saying social media or the bio is bad, or not useful and not needed (depending on the goal of why you’re using it). For me, I just want to concentrate on writing and sharing the hope of Jesus. I like the freedom to be able to do that. I was so close to sending out a reader survey asking for feedback on my website (that may happen somewhere down the line – I wrote it out and everything), but right now, I don’t think that is the direction I want to take.
After speaking to another mum about home educating this week, she said she was considering it but didn’t know if she could have her identity be that for the next however many years. Identity. I get it. I have wrestled with my identity (particularly when it comes to what I do for a living etc) for the longest time. I don’t want my identity to be that I am a home educator. Or a writer (which is slightly problematic as that is declared loud and clear on my Twitter handle). I have come to realise that as much as my life is filled with many different roles and good things, there is really only one thing that I want to be known for.
A new profile
When I became a Christian, I was given a new identity – ‘in Christ’. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) says, ‘Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.’ A Christian becomes a child of God because Jesus redeemed their life from one of sin, destruction and death to an abundant life built upon His finished work on the cross. Jesus saved my life both for now and all eternity. He has given me new life in Him. I am walking in it and trusting Him daily as that works out.
Therefore, all those good things that I used to write on my social media bio are no longer the main thing about me. Christ is. If I am to be known as anything, I want to be known as a follower of Jesus. And that is what you can expect to find on my social media bio from now on. It doesn’t mean everything I share on social media is going to be about Jesus (although, by now, you know He’s not far from my typing and sharing). I do enjoy a good meme. Funny videos tickle me too. But I don’t want people to look at me and assess who I am by what I do. I just want others to see Jesus.
Jesus this and Jesus that
If you’ve ever seen the movie Forrest Gump you may remember this scene:
Jesus this and Jesus that. Maybe that’s what you read every time I write about Jesus. Maybe that’s what you hear every time I talk about Jesus. I don’t know what you’re going through right now or what you have been through in the past. All I know for certain is that there is hope for the hurting, the helpless and the hopeless. Whatever situation you have found yourself in, however life is looking at for you right now, whether it seems great or downright awful, you were made to know God. And He knows you. If you would like to talk to someone about this more, please do get in touch.
I am not the same person I was before I came to know Jesus. I am also not the same person I was when I first became a Christian. By His power and grace I am changing day by day. ‘Amazing Grace’ hymnwriter John Newton said: ‘I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am’. He also said ‘Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Saviour.‘ This is what I have come to know over these years. I pray that I do not lose sight of my Saviour.
It is a lifetime of trusting in Jesus alone – in His life, His death, His resurrection, His ascension and His return.
Maybe I can ask you the question that Lieutenant Dan asked Forrest: Have you found Jesus? But rather than saying you need to help yourself (as was Lt. Dan’s experience), I say, let Jesus be your help. Ask him. If you truly want to know Jesus, and I am sure some of you do, His offer of an abundant life that starts now and goes on into eternity is found by believing and trusting in Him for salvation.
Isaiah 55 (NLT) is an invitation for us all. Do you accept it?
“Is anyone thirsty?
Come and drink—
even if you have no money!
Come, take your choice of wine or milk—
it’s all free!
Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength?
Why pay for food that does you no good?
Listen to me, and you will eat what is good.
You will enjoy the finest food.
“Come to me with your ears wide open.
Listen, and you will find life. (verses 1-3)
Seek the Lord while you can find him.
Call on him now while he is near.
Let the wicked change their ways
and banish the very thought of doing wrong.
Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them.
Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously. (verses 6-7)
Will you turn to Him today?
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him (John 3:16 ESV).
‘Amazing grace! how sweet the sound
John Newton
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.’
An Anchored Hope 