Look around you any day and you will see people posting or reading social media sites. Whether you love or hate social media, it is a part of all our lives. Facebook is one of the largest sites that allow people to gather and express themselves. It is full of groups of people looking for some common ground to connect on. Case in point, just about every city has a “hip” page associated with it and everyone that has even the slightest connection to that city can join their page.
Normally I don’t have any problems with these “hip” pages. But recently I have started to pull away from reading these pages because people are constantly trying to pick fights with their “neighbors”. Christians are falling right into these traps at an alarming rate. The other day on one these pages, a guy was looking for a “church” that was open to homosexual relationships, allowed women pastors and didn’t judge people for their beliefs. This post did exactly what the person posting it wanted the outcome to be. People that call themselves Christians started making comments and condemning this person for their way of life. They were defending what they felt was right but instead caused a greater divide between God and the person posting.
The bigger question I have to ask, why do we feel like we need to be the judge, jury and executioner of someone else’s decisions. We are not qualified to fill any of those rolls, so we should allow God to be the one in charge. When we take that approach and love our neighbor as our selves (Matthew 22:39), then we will no longer feel the need to tell people they are sinning. We can give them the verses in the Bible and pray that they change their ways without creating a greater divide in their life. God is the only one that can change a person’s desire.
So the next time you see a post on social media that you feel like condemning someone for, stop for a second and pray for God’s direction before you respond. You will find out that when you allow God to direct you first, then your response will either be to leave it alone or plant the seed of change without driving a wedge between them and God. But either way, God will be in control of the situation and you will know that you handled it in His way.
Lord, I pray for anyone that reads these words and has gotten into an argument on social media trying to “defend” your word. You are the only one that can change the hearts of people and I pray you soften all our hearts. Lord you taught us to love you first with all our heart, soul and mind and secondly, to love our neighbor as our selves. So I pray that we can fulfill those commandments as we are entangled in the traps in this world and we allow You to flow through us to the people setting the traps. Amen
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