Can Christians Avoid the Distortions of Social Media and Be Known as Disciples of Christ?

Hunger & Thirst for Righteousness

Right now in social media it seems most Christians are no different than the rest of the public. We gossip, complain, insult and have temper tantrums. We invoke the opinions of Pastors and prophets and politicians to whom we have granted god like authority.

We seem incapable of backing away and reflecting on ourselves and what we say and do.

In his book Breaking the Social Media Prism: How to Make Our Platforms Less Polarizing author Chris Ball (professor of sociology at Duke University) in this work of social science has developed final principles that align with Christian ethics and values.

So what can you and I do? As disciples of Christ we must keep several things in mind which we seem unable to do. We are so distracted, so angry we wont or cant stop long enough to realize how we are like the rest of the world and not Christ-like.

If we immerse ourselves in Christ daily we wake up thinking about Him and Thanking Him and we throughout the day say prayers, read scripture keep our Lord in the loop so to speak. Realize Christ and the Holy Spirit are in constant contact with your human spirit and your thoughts. You are not hiding your sins.

Prayer, confession and repentance are fundamental to our daily life as Christians. If we live with unconfessed sins we live counter to Christ and cannot fulfill our function within the Body of Christ.

Lets be honest our culture even the Christian culture (largely but not completely or so it seems) is God denying and God ignoring.

If we go by statistics people who regularly listened to opposite opinions did not adjust their views, change their minds, become more moderate because for most people social media has become a place where they are curate and define themselves. Opposing views attacks their identity.

In our past, most people got their identity both individually and culturally from how they served God, family, neighborhood, nation and community. Identity was developed by what our family and neighbors expected of us through feedback about our behavior. We then rearranged or modeled our lives in accordance with those expectations whereby we got regular validation/affirmation from face-to-face community.

Our sinful tendency to hide from ourselves and others is in full bloom today especially in western cultures distracted by tech and social media among other things.

God and faith no longer serve as our identity as we find our solace in expressive individualism, therapy and entertainment etc. Face to face is replaced by other things so we try hard to make an identity wherever we can and for many that is social media.

It has been said over and over that social media is NOT reality and it IS NOT reality! People with no face to face life outside themselves must find it somewhere and the anonymous nature of social media works or it seems to work.

Christ tells us through scripture to kill our pride. We cant die on every hill because we and our tribe are sinful and fallible, we don't know everything.

Matthew 3: 2 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

The sooner you can cut yourself lose from linking ideas with your identity the sooner you will be able to fulfill your life for and in Christ.

Are you ready and willing to be known for your love on social media??