Have you ever thought about what your online presence speaks for God? Does your online activity please Him? Or is it a major waste of time? Some would stop short at the fact that they aren't into pornography or, think that facebook is satan's little helper. But let's just go a little further than that.
Sure it's great that you avoid lustful images, and are either avoiding or using wisely social networks, but what are you doing?? Let's not forget the word of God:
1 Cor 10:31
"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
Don't worry, I'm not going to get fanatical on you and say you have to update your Facebook status to "REPENT!! for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand, glory hallelujah Praise Adonai!". But I will say, WHY are you on Facebook? Why are you blog surfing? Why are you googling? Sometimes it's as easy as checking our motives. If your online to pass time, to kill boredom, to get some juicy gossip or to spy on/have a nosey at people via social networking... Your motives are off and you must repent and stop such nonsense.
Our motives should always be to glorify God. To grow in the knowledge of Him, to be attentive to what's happening in the world for prayer reasons and of course, to be a witness to others.
If you have been hiding who you are on Facebook or myspace or similar, now is the time to be real and unashamed of whose you are.
Romans 1:16
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes,"...
Luke 12:8-9
"Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God."
And worse still are those who are openly and confidently a publically professing believer, yet act no different from the lost when online. Using fowl language or negative emotion driven status updates, responding to promiscuous comments of others in a light-hearted fashion or being a cyber-God judging everyone with condemning comments.
Both sides of the card are damaging to God's work in the lives of the lost or new believers who see your profile. We must be alert, smart, thoughtful and somewhat cautious on what we say and participate in online. We are an example. We ought to be a shining light. Even online, people ought to know we are different. We must learn the art of finding the fine line between wise subtlety and bold torch-bearing. Somewhere between quiet discernment and prophetic trumpet blowing.
Proverbs 15:2
" The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly,But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness."
A golden rule that is handy to remember is "if what your about to say/tweet etc, isn't able to be backed by scripture or you wouldn't say in front of Jesus, don't say it. At all."
Take advantage of the fact that online interaction means there is time to think it through, don't just blab on without giving it some thought. Take a moment to see if what your doing and saying is glorifying God or just making you look good or whatever else. It's all good to enjoy a joke here and there, or have a laugh at an innocently amusing comment, that makes you human... But under no circumstances should we compromise Godly standards for the sake of being "relevant" or "normal". If you are a true Christian, you are NOT normal. Think about that for a few mins. It's true.
I have no intention on being a man pleaser and watering myself down for the sake of being "culture sensitive". After all, God has some pretty blatant and strong things to say about lukewarm believers. One being that He will spew them out of His mouth!
So, I encourage you to check your heart motives when it comes to online activities and interactions. Let's glorify God in all we do and be a Shining light and breath of fresh air in this world of stale darkness, amen?
:-)
Sure it's great that you avoid lustful images, and are either avoiding or using wisely social networks, but what are you doing?? Let's not forget the word of God:
1 Cor 10:31
"Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
Don't worry, I'm not going to get fanatical on you and say you have to update your Facebook status to "REPENT!! for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand, glory hallelujah Praise Adonai!". But I will say, WHY are you on Facebook? Why are you blog surfing? Why are you googling? Sometimes it's as easy as checking our motives. If your online to pass time, to kill boredom, to get some juicy gossip or to spy on/have a nosey at people via social networking... Your motives are off and you must repent and stop such nonsense.
Our motives should always be to glorify God. To grow in the knowledge of Him, to be attentive to what's happening in the world for prayer reasons and of course, to be a witness to others.
If you have been hiding who you are on Facebook or myspace or similar, now is the time to be real and unashamed of whose you are.
Romans 1:16
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes,"...
Luke 12:8-9
"Also I say to you, whoever confesses Me before men, him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God. But he who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God."
And worse still are those who are openly and confidently a publically professing believer, yet act no different from the lost when online. Using fowl language or negative emotion driven status updates, responding to promiscuous comments of others in a light-hearted fashion or being a cyber-God judging everyone with condemning comments.
Both sides of the card are damaging to God's work in the lives of the lost or new believers who see your profile. We must be alert, smart, thoughtful and somewhat cautious on what we say and participate in online. We are an example. We ought to be a shining light. Even online, people ought to know we are different. We must learn the art of finding the fine line between wise subtlety and bold torch-bearing. Somewhere between quiet discernment and prophetic trumpet blowing.
Proverbs 15:2
" The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly,But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness."
A golden rule that is handy to remember is "if what your about to say/tweet etc, isn't able to be backed by scripture or you wouldn't say in front of Jesus, don't say it. At all."
Take advantage of the fact that online interaction means there is time to think it through, don't just blab on without giving it some thought. Take a moment to see if what your doing and saying is glorifying God or just making you look good or whatever else. It's all good to enjoy a joke here and there, or have a laugh at an innocently amusing comment, that makes you human... But under no circumstances should we compromise Godly standards for the sake of being "relevant" or "normal". If you are a true Christian, you are NOT normal. Think about that for a few mins. It's true.
I have no intention on being a man pleaser and watering myself down for the sake of being "culture sensitive". After all, God has some pretty blatant and strong things to say about lukewarm believers. One being that He will spew them out of His mouth!
So, I encourage you to check your heart motives when it comes to online activities and interactions. Let's glorify God in all we do and be a Shining light and breath of fresh air in this world of stale darkness, amen?
:-)
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