I blame Facebook and Twitter.

I admit that I don’t know a great deal about them, but here are some thoughts from a mildly interested observer. I am sure that many will make deeper and more articulate comments.

The Upside

On Facebook we can immediately respond to a post by indicating that we like it, and on Twitter we can choose to follow a person.

These published choices are helpful in so many ways. Liking and following can draw attention to things that we should advocate, without having to ‘go out on a limb’ and defend them. Merely doing this can become a way by which we can influence those around us, and if we choose well, we can influence them for good. We are able to encourage our cyberspace friends to think in new and helpful ways.

The democratic and universal nature of social media lets us know what the bulk of society think about things, or at last what the large majority of those using the media think about something. This information enables us to have conversations on matters that people think are relevant, and it also lets us know what matters to our friends and acquaintances.

The downside

Anything you engage in changes the way you function. And so it is with social media.

The gospel of the Lord Jesus and His demands upon us are to take up our cross and follow Him. It involves following Jesus at personal cost. He calls us to love what He loves and hate what He hates. This involves a change in the whole orientation of life.

It seems to me that this is a completely different set of responses to merely ‘liking’ and ‘following’ on the social media sites.

We love in a world where we become armchair everything. We watch gut wrenching turmoil and disasters from the safety of our lounge rooms. Movies call from us strong emotions that evaporate when the lights come up. I worry that in these days our affections and hearts are not called to be radically changed. And I worry that social media feeds this trend.

A follower of Jesus and a liker of the things of God will not just click a button, but will implore God to incline our wills to change. While social media does not necessarily mean we will not do this, I worry that the simplicity of following and liking can challenge the deep gospel call to change.

The real problem

I said that I blame Facebook and Twitter for this, but of course these media just allow us to confirm what is our natural disposition.  Every human heart will avoid commitment to God until His Spirit takes hold of us and changes us.

We must always hold before each other the joyous privilege of following our savior and helping each other to be captured by liking what God likes. 

Feature photo: Ksayer1