What to Do When You’ve Been Chasing Likes
Key Takeaways
- The constant urge to check your phone for likes is driven by a deliberately engineered social-validation feedback loop designed to consume your time and attention.
- In John 12:43, the Bible describes leaders who loved human praise more than the praise of God, choosing the visible glory of man over the invisible glory of God.
- Constant social media refreshing trains an underlying appetite for approval that eventually seeps into spiritual cowardice, making us hesitant to speak about Christ where it costs us.
- A practical way to break the cycle of chasing likes is to intentionally post less this week, set a strict limit, and observe the internal discomfort that arises when validation is withheld.
- Exercising spiritual courage involves deliberately speaking about Christ out loud in a room or situation where doing so requires a little personal cost.
The post that gets ignored stings worse than it should. Learn what verse 42 says about the men in John 12, and the test that has little to do with your posting habits.
You post something and check your phone a few seconds later to see who liked it. The post that gets attention gives you a lift. The one that gets ignored stings worse than a few missing taps ought to sting. And you can't quite argue yourself out of it, because the behavior looks harmless. Posting a picture of your grandkids is a fine thing to do. What gets trained in you by the refreshing is the part to watch.
This episode opens with Sean Parker, Facebook's founding president, who later explained in public how the pull was designed. The goal was to consume as much of your time and attention as possible, with a small dopamine hit every time someone liked or commented. He called it a social-validation feedback loop.
John 12:43 describes men who had this appetite long before anybody had a phone: "For they loved human praise more than the praise of God." Start with the verse above it, because verse 42 is the one that stops you. Many people did believe in Him, John says, including some of the Jewish leaders. And they wouldn't admit it, for fear the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. So these are believers. They were convinced about Jesus, and they kept it to themselves.
Then look at what expulsion meant. Getting put out of the synagogue in that world cost a man his standing and his livelihood at the same time. Their silence came from something other than vanity. They were protecting a life they had built.
Now look at the two words John picks in verse 43. Human praise, and the praise of God. In the Greek it's the same word both times, doxa. Glory. So the choice in front of those men came down to whose glory they would take, and John says they took the one they could see.
Notice who these men were. Leaders. The people in that crowd with the most reputation to lose were the ones who said nothing. Then read one verse further and watch what the arrangement does. Verse 44 says Jesus shouted to the crowds, raising His voice in public at the same moment those men were deciding to keep theirs down.
Bart shares his own version of it. He checks the download numbers on this podcast, and he wants more people encouraged by these devotions. He can't always tell which of the two has the wheel.
BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU'LL DISCOVER:
What verse 42 says about the men in John 12, and why it changes the verse you know The one Greek word John uses for both kinds of glory The test that has more to do with what you'll say out loud than with your posting habits
Here's the practical step. Post less this week, and pick a number before you start so you have something to hold to. Then pay attention to what comes up in you when the attention isn't coming, and tell God about it in your own words. And sometime this week, say something about Christ out loud in a room where it costs you a little. That's the muscle those leaders in John 12 never used.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why do I feel disappointed when a social media post gets ignored?
Platforms are specifically engineered with a social-validation feedback loop that triggers small dopamine hits with every like or comment, creating a psychological pull for approval.
What does John 12:43 say about chasing likes and human praise?
John 12:43 describes people who loved human praise more than the praise of God, using the same Greek word 'doxa' (glory) to contrast the approval of men with the glory of God.
How can I stop chasing likes and social media validation?
You can break the habit by posting less, setting a strict limit for your posts each week, and bringing your internal desire for attention directly to God in prayer.
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You post something, then check your phone a few
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seconds later to see who liked it. You check a minute after
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that again, feeling a little better each time someone taps
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the heart or the like button. Here's who understood that
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feeling before you ever did. One of the men who built Facebook.
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He was in the room when they decided how it would work for
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you. The truth was that pull you feel was engineered on purpose,
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and one of its makers was about to admit it. We'll come back to
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what he said, but first, welcome to Daily Devotions for Business.
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I'm Bart Leger. Okay, I'll admit it. It's about these devotions.
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I checked the numbers, downloads, and whether one title had more
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traction than the one before it. I know those figures probably
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better than I need to, and here is the tension that I live with.
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I want more people encouraged by these devotions, and that's why
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I started, and that's why I still do it. And I want God's
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word to impact people, but I also feel a little let down when
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a week comes, and it comes in lower than the last one. Both
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are true at the same time. So I guess I'm human. You probably
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know the feeling if you're on social media, and you post
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things that are important to you. The post that gets attention
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gives you a lift. The one that gets ignored makes you feel a
Track 1 00:01:23
little bummed out. And you can't quite argue yourself out of it
Track 1 00:01:27
because the behavior looks harmless. Posting a picture of
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your grandkids is a fine thing to do. What the constant
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refreshing trains in you is the part to watch. John wrote about
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men who had this appetite long before anybody had a smartphone.
Track 1 00:01:42
John 12, 43. For they loved human praise more than the
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praise of God. The verse before it says many people did believe
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in Him, including some of the Jewish leaders. And they
Track 1 00:01:54
wouldn't admit it for fear the Pharisees would expel them from
Track 1 00:01:58
the synagogue. So these are believers. They were convinced
Track 1 00:02:01
about Jesus, and they kept it to themselves. Then look at what
Track 1 00:02:05
that expulsion meant. Getting put out of the synagogue in that
Track 1 00:02:09
world cost a man his standing and his livelihood at the same
Track 1 00:02:13
time. Their silence came from something other than vanity.
Track 1 00:02:17
They were protecting a life they had built. Now, look at the two
Track 1 00:02:21
words John picks in verse 43. Human praise and the praise of
Track 1 00:02:24
God. In the Greek, it's the same word both times. Doksa, glory.
Track 1 00:02:28
So the choice before these men came down to whose glory they
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would take. And John says they took the one they could see. And
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notice who these men were. They were leaders. What that appetite
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does to us.
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John put those two sentences next to each other, I believe,
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on purpose. So here's the test. And it's about more than just
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your posting habits. The question is whether there's a
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place where you'd say nothing about Christ because of what
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speaking would cost you. Maybe it's the office or the family
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table or somebody says something that you could answer. That
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appetite grows on 10,000 small checks to see who approved until
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approval is a thing you reach for without deciding to. His
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name is Sean Parker, Facebook's founding president. Years later,
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at a public event, he explained how the thing was built. The
Track 1 00:03:30
goal, he said, was to take up as much of your time and attention
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as possible. So they gave you a little dopamine hit every time
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someone liked or commented, which makes you want to post
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again and again. He called it a social validation feedback loop.
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And then he admitted what they knew.
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if you feel that tug after you post, remember what it is. It's
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a response to a machine that skilled people build to keep you
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coming back. The good news is that you can see the hook now
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and you can decide how much of it your heart gets. Think about
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those two things together for a A man who helped build it says
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it was made to exploit something in you. And John, 2,000 years
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earlier, had already described what it exploits. Here's today's
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challenge. Post less this week and pick a number before you
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start so you have something to hold on to. Say two posts for
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the whole week where you'd normally make a dozen. Then pay
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attention to what comes up in you when the attention isn't
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coming. That feeling is the information. Tell God about it
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in your own words. And sometime this week, say something about
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Christ in a room where it cost you a little. That's the muscle
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those leaders in John 12 never used. One more thing. Since I
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told you I watched the numbers, I'm about to ask you for a
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rating. And I'm asking because it puts these emotions in front
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of people who need them. Father, John wrote about men who
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believed in your son and said nothing to keep what they had.
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And you let that sentence stand in the record for us to read.
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Thank you that your approval was never for sale and never on a
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schedule. For everybody listening who has been living
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off small doses of other people's attention, show them
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what they've been reaching for. Give us the nerve to speak where
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it cost us. In Jesus' name, amen. If daily devotions for busy
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lives has been an encouragement to you, would you take a minute
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and leave a rating and review? It helps more people find these
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devotions and it only takes a moment. I'd be so grateful.
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Thanks for joining me on daily devotions for busy lives.
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Remember, John used the same word for both kinds of glory and
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those men took the one they could see. Post less this week
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and speak up once where it cost you. Come back next time for
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more encouragement to help you live grounded in God's truth.
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Until then, God bless and have a great day.
