Social media reveals an interesting characteristic about us humans - we like to be liked. Mark Zuckerberg and the good people of Facebook created the little “like” icon to be used to express immediate and positive feedback regarding a post. I use it all the time when viewing the posts of my friends. If I like a picture, a post, a video, or a comment I use my mouse to hover the cursor over the “like” button and then click. The person who made the post now has immediate and positive feedback that, I think, what they posted was swell (the word Facebook would have used, instead of “like”, if it was around in the 1950’s!)
If you don’t mind, I want to climb into the confessional booth and open my soul to you. What I share is something, I think, I hope, that you also experience. So, I post a bit on Facebook. Hey, don’t we all? I’ll post a picture, maybe a video, sometimes it is just a few words, but then…here comes my confession, I check back to see how many people have liked what I posted. Please, tell me you do the same! I’m convinced I am not alone. Most of us do this and it reveals something about our nature. We want to be liked. We are relational beings. Social by design. This is how God wired us. Part of our social nature is that we want, even desire, people to like us. Though I don’t know this to be true, I suspect that the less we are liked in the “real world” the more we yearn to be liked in the “virtual world”. Perhaps the reason Second Life (Google it) is so big is because people who feel un-liked experience what it means to actually be liked. When people talk to you, even seek you out, it gives you the same feeling as when someone “likes” your post on Facebook.
So let’s cut to the chase (BTW that’s an old Hollywood movie term that meant let’s get to the good stuff – as in, the chase). If, inherent in our created nature, is this yearning to be liked, affirmed, accepted, appreciated, or wanted, why don’t we first give this to others? I know, the obvious answer is we’re just needy, selfish people. In college I remember learning about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Our survival, our own needs, come first before we can be altruistic. Enter Jesus. (See how I brought in another movie phrase? You can like this later. ) Jesus had this way of turning the world upside down. Jesus taught that what we give is what we get, “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.” Luke 6:38. Pause here. The principle at work, from my interpretation, is that what we give, we get back. Want to be liked? Start liking others. Period. End of sentence.
All of us want to be liked. I am a pretty confident guy but I look to see how many people like a post or a comment. Maybe I am not as confident as I think. Here’s the chase. Let's just do what we can to “like” people. Appreciate the checker at Wal-Mart. Thank your partner for what they do. Give a thumbs up to your kids. Give a kudos to the wait staff. Accept the person who is different. Tell the person who works for you how grateful you are she/he is with you. Appreciate people. Affirm people. Like people and you will see returns. In business terminology this is your ROI. Look for what people do well and let them know that. You will get back more than you pour into them. Pour into your partner. Pour into your kids. Pour into your friends. Pour into the people you work with or who work for you. Pour into your congregants. Pour into people who you don’t know because it just might be that they need to be “liked”. In doing so, God will pour into you and more and more people will like you. What you give really is what you get, whether you like it or not.
