It has occured to me, just lastely, that Facebook may be having an unexpected result. As I have made "friends" with people and have kept up with their day-to-day goings on, I have seen a different side to some people than I have seen in the "normal" environments. In other words, I may be used to speaking with someone and seeing them only in a Church or Christian camp environment. Then, all of a sudden, I am privy to what movies they are going to see, or what music they are listening to, or even some of their likes and dislikes. I am sure that many would not like me to know some of these things; but they have made them public for all to see.
This made me start to wonder what things in my life are being made public to people. What sorts of things do I reveal that I wish I hadn't? But, what's more important is why are these things even in my life? If I am ashamed of them, I should deal with them. If I feel I have the right to entertain myself with certain things, but am afraid people will judge me because of them, what do I do about that?
Now, let's take this to a logical conclusion. What does God have to say about this?
But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.
(1 Corinthians 4:3-4 ESV)
We should live a life that is not for others but for God. But, I think too often, we are counting on God's grace when it comes time for judgement! We aren't living a life that we'll be proud of on judgement day.
Facebook has been very revealing about my "friends" and, probably, about myself. And there is coming a day when even more will be revealed. Solomon is very clear when he says that "God will bring every work into judgement, including every secret thing, whether good or evil."
Should Facebook be the place where we find out about our friends? Shouldn't we be transparent all the time? Maybe we should just start being more careful with what we say...then we wouldn't have to be honest about some of the things that entertain us and we could just keep on being entertained with things that really have no place in the life of a Christian.
I suppose some of my Facebook friends are reading this right now and wondering what they might have said about themselves. It's ok! I don't judge you...but God might. And, after all, that's all that really matters.
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That's very insigtful, and I agree completely. I just hope I wasn't the inspiration for this post. *gulp*
ReplyDeleteBut you make an exellent point. Sort of a "life style evangelism" thing on line.
If you haven't read it yet, there's an excellent book by a guy named Daniel Lohrmann called Virtual Integrity, where he talks about maintaining our integrity on line. One of the main points in his book is that one of our biggest on line threats is not identity theft, but integrity theft. I think it's a book every Christian who uses the internet should read.
Grace and peace.