Mean Something By It

I (lower-case l) “love” Facebook. I remember the days of MySpace and even at its best; it’s not what Facebook is. Sharing life events, new experiences, beautiful pictures, full-force prayer rallying and encouraging, uplifting quotes and nostalgic memories…For me, Facebook IS ministry! As wonderful as I think it is, I have several friends who don’t “DO” Facebook. Do I encourage them to join? Nah… I believe they know themselves better than I do and it’s easy to see that Facebook is not ministry for everyone. Just like anything put into the hands of a fallen world, Facebook has it’s well-known dark side. But what about its gray side? Sadly and subtly, our nemeses; the world, the flesh and the devil are on Facebook in FORCE and their snares often shade the integrity and consistency of a life that should be marked by “a more excellent way”.

“Ooooh! Did you see the one about the ‘People of Wal-Mart’ where…….?”, “Ooooh! Did you see the one ‘Funny or die’….?”, or “Ooooh! Did you see what this person wore to that function……?”. Now I know I can be accused of being-out of touch, too judgmental or taking on a “holier than thou” attitude. I surely hope that there’s no truth to those accusations. If so, I beg dearly for prayer in those areas. My point is this, I don’t expect any different from the unregenerate, but if you were to confront your average “Christian” as to why they involve themselves in such mundane, sarcastic and even cynical information/behavior, I suspect the quickest response would be “Awwww, c’mon, I don’t mean anything by it – I just thought it was funny”. Such a fine line! And this kind of encouragement, if not ministered with a heart of exhortation and grace can quickly lead away from “freedom in Christ” to a law-based bondage.

“I don’t mean anything by it.” What an apropos phrase that realizes the meaning of the word “futile” or deeper still; no purposeful direction.

Here’s The Word

Ephesians 4:17 (NIV) So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.

Of the many things we receive from a new life “hidden in Christ” that’s sealed by The Spirit is purposeful direction: A life of meaning!

I don’t think we have to sacrifice humor in holiness. Actually, I think Christians should be the happiest, most joyful people on the planet. When the Bible says, “The Lord loves a ‘cheerful’ giver. The root of the word cheerful is where we get the word ‘Hilarious’. (look it up). It’s totally not my hope to saddle you with a heavy burden where you’ll be feeling like “Cros is going to be judging my 'spiritual maturity' every time I post something on Facebook. I don’t condemn you or anyone else, and if it’s just “too little, too late”, I understand if you unfriend me. I’ll still pray that the joy of The Lord be your strength.
Still, I encourage you to raise your standard and strive for (and to encourage others toward) ‘the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ’ and to live a life of purpose!

At the end of the day, this really isn’t about Facebook…or is it? Maybe my friends who’ve opted out understand something that more of us should take to heart – the strength of our witness. We know to avoid places that exploit our weaknesses (a place you wouldn’t want another Christian see you go into or come out of) but Facebook is very subtle and some of us may not see how our weaknesses may be taken advantage of…because we’re too quick to see it as “nothing”. You have to judge within yourself if its really nothing or not, but even if it really is nothing to YOU - is that a good thing?

Well my friend, allow me to challenge you to break free of a futile life and for Christ’s sake: Mean something by it!


In Him,
Cros