(upbeat music) On Instagram, most of us are happy if 20 or 30 people like any given picture that we post. We're back with hip hop artist, Tripp Lee. And Tripp, some of your pictures go over 10,000 likes on Instagram. Social media stats like these beg us, just beg us to compare ourselves to everyone else and to quantify our popularity, which of course is pure vanity.

So speak to nobodies like me about fame and particularly about this idea that popularity is the key to happiness. Speak to us from the inside. Yeah, I think that is one of the really dangerous things about social media is with all kinds of hearts and love and praise, man, it's always been that.

But now, as you said, there is this kind of automatic way that I can at any moment know exactly what people think about what I just said, what I just did, or this picture that I just took. I don't have to wait or ask anybody. I can second by second see how many people think it's impressive.

And from my side, as somebody who has a larger social media following, I think the main thing I want people to know is that no amount of likes really satisfies. There's no like, okay, when I get that 10,000 likes, that's when my heart is really satisfied. And we see principles like this in scripture.

Solomon says, and I think it's Ecclesiastes 5, he who loves money will never be satisfied by it. And that's 'cause we'll always want more. You know, it's vanity, chasing after wind. And I guess you could really say the same thing. He who loves social media likes or retweets will never be satisfied by it.

And that's because when our real hunger is for that recognition from man, then enough is never gonna be enough. You know, if that's what we really hunger for, there's never gonna be that magic amount of recognition that'll mean enough for us. My level of social media fame is laughable compared to others who have millions of followers and get hundreds of thousands of likes.

But even they can look back to someone else in history who's more famous than them or somebody else on social media, and you know, it's an endless cycle of comparison and unsatisfied desires. You know, I can look at friends of mine, even who have larger social media following than me, and I look at them, and they still haven't reached some level of perfect happiness.

And so I think we really have to fight that thing in our heart that wants to be satisfied by that. I can think of seasons where I've personally felt that I needed to step back from social media because I was liking the likes too much and the retweets. Because, you know, I would maybe tweet something and see a bunch of retweets, and it would give me this little burst of joy and satisfaction, and it would make me feel good about myself.

And I was starting to see that that's what I was really kind of defining myself, or finding my identity. That's what made me feel valuable and worth something in that day. And when I don't watch my soul, I can feel myself getting really addicted to that, addicted to the praise of man.

And it's really dangerous, whether it's on social media or at your job and in your family with your spouse. When we get addicted to the praise of man, it's very dangerous because that praise begins to dictate our decisions. We'll behave or tweet or preach or rap or whatever. We'll do it based on what will get us the most praise from men instead of what will please God.

And that can happen really quick. And that can happen without us even noticing. And it kills our faith because that's where we start to run to for joy. And it really kills our obedience really quickly and desensitizes our souls. And we begin to reorient our life around the wrong things.

So I think social media is amazing. But because we're sinners, just like in every era of our life there are things you really have to guard against. And that's one of them for me. Fear of man is a struggle for me. And so I always have to fight against that.

- Yes, and how long are those seasons of pulling back? - Sometimes it would maybe be just a week or two. There was one time when it was a couple months where maybe I would still tweet, I would schedule them. But I just erased the apps from my phone so that I wouldn't be tempted to go and look at everybody's responses to my tweets and post at all times.

- That's a really good discipline for us all to consider sharing, but finding ways to distance ourselves from the response stats. Thank you, Tripp. This has been "Tripp Lee." His latest album and book are both titled "Rise." You can find them right now at Amazon.com. And one of the great themes in the book is the love of God in his withholding things from us that would harm us.

So how does our trust in the goodness of God relate to self-denial? I'll ask Tripp that tomorrow. I'm your host, Tony Reinke. Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)