Looking back over my News Feed during 2013, and even at the year on this particular blog, I’ve come to understand that there’s a certain set of criteria by which most American Christians seem to deem something relevant, important, or share-worthy.
As thoughts, opinions, and ideas continually cascade over believers throughout each day on social media, there are some common filters many use to sift out stuff that doesn’t make the cut, while elevating other stuff they determine to be vital.
In light of this, here are some reasons why most Christians probably won’t repost, share, or ReTweet this blog post…
1) It’s not claiming that Obama is the Devil.
Over the past 5 years, it’s become quite fashionable in Christian circles to blame everything imaginable on our current President; tax laws, healthcare troubles, the bacon shortage, our disobedient children, (the fact that they still haven’t made a Wonder Woman movie yet).
I find all this extreme finger-pointing, hand-wringing, and teeth-gnashing toward any politician; toward any man or woman, regardless of their political affiliation, to be the sign of a very small faith in a very useless God.
To make one person the source of so many troubles, and to level such passionate, violent energy against them is simply Idolatry turned on its head. It’s giving a human being, the kind of power and attention that only belongs to God. And to be honest, it’s also rather lazy, as it doesn’t require anyone to dig deeper into the complexities of the issues our world faces.
This post is without politics and makes no statement whatsoever on Barack Obama, other than to affirm that he, like all of us regardless of political affiliation, is a flawed, broken, imperfect person, in need of Grace.
That kind of sentiment won’t get the church folk hitting the “LIKE” button much, I’m afraid.
2) It’s not saying that The Sky Is Falling.
There is no alarm ringing out here; no bold-typed headline, decrying the imminent end of all things Holy. Here in this blog post, there is no “War on Freedom”, no “Attack on Christianity”, and no absolute signs that we are witnessing the closing collapse of our culture.
You see, it’s always been big business in the small churches to scare people; to keep them trembling and in doing so, to hopefully keep them religious. Give Christians an enemy, the idea goes, and you’ll hold their loyalty. That’s why so much of what Jesus-followers give virtual piggy back rides to on their social media profiles these days, reads like a wartime propaganda film; filled with doom, and danger, and threat. And if that’s the message you hear from a believer, you can go ahead an assume that there’s a leak in their faith somewhere.
Sure it’s easy to dwell on the stuff out there that shakes us; the violence, bigotry, and suffering we endure and watch others endure, but that can’t be the last word for those who claim Christ. I believe that God, being God, isn’t asleep at the wheel, isn’t threatened by what’s happening in the news, and definitely isn’t reeling on the ropes, as lots of people want us to believe.
He’s the friggin’ Creator of the Universe after all, and I trust that He’s got it, even when my emotions tell me otherwise.
I never feel that the sky is falling, because I know the One who holds up the sky.
3) It’s isn’t name-dropping anybody.
You see, it would be really convenient to simply toss a big name into the title of this post; a trending Reality TV star, some polarizing pastor, or a disgraced politician; one that would virtually guarantee major hits. It’s an epidemic laziness today in the Christian Blogosphere, one that highlights the poverty of our own personal faith.
Lately it seems as if we Christians only feel compelled to speak into the culture, when we want to dispute someones’ opinion, discredit somebody’s ministry, or to ride on another’s coattails. We’ve gotten so used to a culture of confrontation and condemnation, that we’ve forgotten the power of our own individual testimony.
I’m wondering if in chasing the attention of our Friends and Followers, we’ve lost the ability to simply name-drop Jesus, and trust that is enough.
4) It’s not pointing fingers at, “those people” and “that issue”.
You know what I’m talking about.
To read so much of what gets passed, and promoted, and perpetuated by Christians these days, you’d think that we have one singular threat to our collective morality, and if we could only neutralize this menace, then we’d all be home-free.
Every week, Christians engage in a vicious, verbal tug-of-war between warring sides, using one small segment of the population as the rope. And we don’t just talk about them, we talk around them, the way groups of parents talk about their kids; right in front of them, but barely acknowledging them.
You wanna get something shared and reposted in Christian social media? Mention you know who. Your page will blow-up, and the hit count will skyrocket. You’ll have the people who support you applauding, and you’ll essentially flip the bird to those who don’t, and nothing resembling Grace will be the bi-product.
Here’s the deal: Sooner or later we need to be a people who understand, that if our faith in Jesus can’t be affirmed and professed, without disparaging another person or group of people in the process; we’ve got a pretty lousy testimony.
5) It isn’t only Red, White and Blue.
Please hear me: I love my country; love, love, love it! I think we get so much right compared to what we get wrong, and I feel extremely blessed to have grown-up here.
But while I love my country, I don’t worship my country.
Somewhere along the line, we’ve slowly but quite clearly made our homeland into an idol. We’ve uttered and heard the phrase, “God and Country” for so long, we’ve forgotten that the two are not interchangeable. It’s OK to find fault with America, and not in the process, to assault God or His plan. In the same way, we can and should have a view of humanity that goes beyond our borders, and sees God’s heart for the world.
Flags and fireworks may get lots of cheap shares out there, but our Creator is calling us to a greater community, so you won’t hear about a nation here, but a Kingdom.
So, there it is; no politicking, no fear-mongering, no name-dropping, no hot button issues, and no nationalistic rally cries.
So what’s left for a Christian, you ask?
Just Jesus.
In the end, He has to be the cause, and the name, and the remedy, and the side, and the peace, and the agenda.
Jesus alone, has to be enough to change hearts, to reconcile sinners, to heal brokenness, to free captives, and to give hope.
This post, simply argues that Jesus is the most important, the most vital, the most shareable thing Christians will ever have.
I wonder if that’s enough.
