Applying God’s Word to Facebook
If you had the chance to meet me in person and thought, “Hey, she’s a cool chick. I’d like to have her as a friend. Maybe chat every now and then.” And then you asked me if I had Facebook. I would say. “Nope.” You would look shocked and ask, “Twitter?” “Uh-uh.” I’d reply. With even more skepticism you’d toss out, “Instagram?” “Foursquare?” “LinkedIn.” I’d shake my head to every one. Admittedly I have seldom used Pinterest and G+ accounts. But I don’t participate in the social networking scene, so what could I possibly know about “redeeming Facebook”?
Well I know what the Bible says about how we are supposed to interact with people. With this world.
and I know that, despite what we tell ourselves, ALL aspects of life matter to the King of Kings. There are not things He dismisses or overlooks simply because they do not fall into the “major sin” category.
Before you get all nervous and bolt out of here – I’m not going to tell you to bombard your feed with those “Jesus is watching you” threat-posts. Sometimes boldly proclaiming the truths of God’s Scripture is exactly what God asks of us but I believe God also laid out some subtle methods of witnessing that are just right for “redeeming Facebook”.
3 Scripture Passages that Will Help You Realign Your Facebook with Your Faith
The peacemakers are blessed, for they will be called sons of God.” Matthew 5:9 (hcsb)
There is perhaps no greater coveted adjective in all of Christiandom than “blessed.” Few of us would pass up a blessing from God. This Sunday-School promise shouts it loud and clear – be a peacemaker, be blessed. God does call us to share truth. God even gives us biblical guidelines (see Matthew 18 & Galatians 6) for sharing conviction with others. But God does not want us to stir up conflicts in a way that sullies the name of Jesus.
Make this practical by praying your own promise to God. “God I commit to not claim your name in one minute, then use it to attack someone the next. Help me the next time I feel righteous indignation to handle it the way your Word tells me to.”
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, compliant, full of mercy and good fruits, without favoritism and hypocrisy.” James 3:17
Ouch. This verse is so jam-packed with areas I consistently fall short on. What about you? Pure. Peace-loving. Gentle. Merciful. Without hypocrisy. Can you honestly say that all of your Facebook posts check each of those boxes? Probably not. I don’t think I could say that all of my thoughts in one day hour fit that bill. But it’s in God’s Word so we know He wants us to strive for it. And how about producing good fruits? Are our social media posts producing good fruits that point to Jesus or are they painting Jesus in a light He doesn’t deserve? Does the word favoritism stick out to you too? Do we call out some folks we don’t like simply to wear the “holier than thou” crown and ignore the social networking sins of our besties? James is full of tough, convicting verses and this one is no different. James wasn’t going to sugar coat what does and doesn’t honor God and if we want to live for Jesus we have to accept James’ reproach and do something about it.
Make it practical, consider memorizing this verse and saying it to yourself before you log on to your social media sites. If verse memory isn’t your thing, type it up and stick it to your laptop or somewhere you will see it often.
But be holy in all you do, just as God, the One who called you, is holy.” 1 Peter 1:15
In ALL you do. ALL. Oh, we Christians sometimes love to skip that word, don’t we? After all, we know that we cannot perfect ourselves, we know we’ll fall short. We’ll just give ourselves mercy this time. But sometimes “being merciful on ourselves” is just a loop-hole, isn’t it? God says, “be holy in ALL you do.” In ALL you say. In ALL you watch. In ALL you think. In ALL you “like.” In ALL your networks. In ALL your online activities. In ALL your relationships. In ALL. Be holy.
Make it practical, next time you go to share a post or like a friend’s post think quickly about whether it would be okay with God. If it is sinful, could lead to sin, dishonors God or would disappoint Him, refuse to click the share button. Yes, God will see your name as one of the “thumbs up.” And yes, He does care, even about Facebook.
There are some things in life we wish we could separate from spiritual matters. For some of you, you might wish social networking didn’t matter to God. For others we wish family relationships didn’t matter to God. But they do and He has called us to live holy lives, in all we do. Let’s honor God and begin to reclaim social networking for King Jesus. Maybe after we obey in these small ways He’ll trust us with some big time witnessing!
Are you ready to redeem your Facebook? Connect with us on Facebook and tell us what you think of social networking in the Christians’ life or comment below!
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