Addicted to Love?

Time for a confession…please don’t judge. I am an old-school romantic at heart. My heart’s desire is tempted by the guilty pleasure known as the Instagram “Scroll”. Reels which suggest insight into love and romance enthrall me. Pathetic, I know. However, being single and desiring with all my heart to be married qualifies me easily for romantic reel addiction.

Over and over again, I am entranced by the idea of a lost love regained. Those reels highlighting unrequited love find me openly weeping. I cheer when I see strangers’ engagement/wedding photos. I think to myself wistfully “It can be done.” In a sort of melancholic stupor, I bond with the unloved on the internet, finding solace in their company.

Often times, I feel as if Instagram sees the workings of my heart. It probably does. AI has become so adept in analyzing out internet viewing habits that it has a wealth of information about us at its fingertips (so to speak).

Instagram can really be a tool of Satan. The platform is an unwelcome distraction, taking me away from the priority of my relationship with God. It manipulates my desire for earthly love, creating an idol of it.

To be honest after wasting precious time scrolling, I just feel sad. I think about the happy couples I’ve viewed and wonder when it will be my turn. Such a distraction, and not a positive one. I’m sure Satan is smugly laughing somewhere.

After I pause (a few tears later), I analyze my Instagram experience. I come to a very significant conclusion. The love of man is never guaranteed, but the love of God is; without question. This promise is of great comfort to me. The fact is that Our Father’s love is never-ending and does not rely upon a person’s body type, looks, or sexual availability:

Psalm 139:13-16 KJV

¹³ For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

¹⁵ My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

¹⁶ Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

I have decided to cut back significantly on my Instagram usage. I really need to just cancel it. It brings little good to my life. Should love come, it will be uniquely designed by God himself, not situationally programmed into my subconscious by an Instagram reel. When one looks to earthly love for validation, it negates the inherent value God bestows upon our being. No earthly suitor comes close to God in adoration. Do I still desire marriage? Of course. However, it will be with a godly man and on God’s terms, not Instagram’s:

1 John 4:16 KJV

 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

-Melanie DiLeo