Today is March 16, a day that is “dedicated” to remembering one of the most powerful verses of the entire bible: John 3:16.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”
This is probably one of the most repeated and well known passages of scripture. People have literally wrote books on this single verse. I am not going to elaborate it on the verse and its significance. I would do it little justice. I am, however; sitting here touched by a story related to this verse. This story literally happened TODAY.
Being that the date was 3/16, this man decided it would be fitting to make his Facebook Status the John 3:16 verse. At the end of the verse, he wrote something like: “How great is our God?”. Elsewhere on this same day, another person had reached rock bottom. He had reached a point in his life where he felt there was no point in continuing, no point in living. He had problems with his relationship, problems with his family, and problems with his job. It was the makings of another sob story where life got the best of one person, and they decide their life is not worth living. He gets on his computer, to make a Facebook status of his own-- saying goodbye to the world. When he gets on one of the first things he see’s is his friend’s status of the John 3:16 verse. At that moment his heart sunk, he lost his breath and he could not go through with the act. He started crying and immediately realized what it was he was missing, the one thing that could make his life whole again: God.
I can only imagine what it would feel like to be the friend receiving this phone call, “Dude, you literally saved my life!” That is exactly what he said, reduced to tears explaining the situation. He accepted Christ into his life in that moment on the phone. He accepted Christ into his life TODAY, he his alive still TODAY because of this man’s status. And now I can only stand in awe saying for myself-- how great is our God?
This brings up two topics of great significance to me. One of which being Facebook. It is the most captivating and consuming “thing” in the world. People literally spend millions of hours on it a day. It has a movie explaining its very creation. It is HUGE. And I hate it, I hate Facebook! Ask anyone, I always have... But before any of you Facebook lovers get offended, hear me out. Only recently did I finally realize why it is I hate FB so much: it gives people a means of which to seek out attention and approval from other people. What is the problem with that? Nothing really, I just have always believed that I should only be living for the approval of God, who cares what other’s think.
Don’t get me wrong, FB can be fun. I love some of the comments and status’s I see. They are hilarious. I love staying in touch with friends and family, and I get why it is so popular and addicting. But living for the approval of other people just has never sat well with me, and I believe some people get too caught up in it all... But that is just my take. There is an added dimension to this. Often times people like to share their faith on FB. Particularly by putting status updates with bible versus or comments on how great God is. There is such a fine line to be drawn here, and I feel by even mentioning anything that I am already treading in deep water. But here goes...
Sharing your faith with the world is great. If you love God to the point where you want to scream it on a mountain and tell the world, than awesome! And FB offers people an easy way to go about this. But my problem comes when it is done for the wrong reasons. When people put things about Jesus/God on their FB page in order to make themselves look better. When people post things about their faith in order to glorify themselves-- in order to come across as better, like their life is figured out, etc..
I have struggled with this. I blog and put my posts straight onto the “notes” section of my FB. For the longest time I didn’t want to do this because I didn’t want to come across in the wrong way. I didn’t want to come across as a person that has life figured out, that has a perfect faith, and that is better than everyone else because I am seeking after Jesus. I used to blog and never even publish any of it, because I only wanted God to see the strides I was making. I only wanted the approval of my Father in heaven. I share my thoughts on God with others so that they can see that I am just as broken as the next person. I share my life so that others can see that they aren’t alone in their struggles. I share my sins, my flaws, my low moments, my high moments, and the places God is working in my life for one reason only: So that others may see the goodness of God. So that others can see the good that he can bring into their lives. So that God can get all of the glory he deserves.
Our God is great, he loves his children SO much. He sent his one and only son to die for each and every one of us. He gives us more grace than we ever deserve. I am a broken, sinful, hateful, and lost person. I am nothing without my faith in God. And I want people to see that, I want people to see me being vulnerable. I want them to see the ugly in my life because I want people to see God in my life as well. I finally started using FB to talk about God because it truly is a good tool for proclaiming His goodness...
BUT... I still hate when FB becomes a tool that is used to show the world your greatness, particularly because of your faith. I hate it when people seek the attention of others so much that they can’t go an hour without getting on the social network. And I hate it when people try to pretend that they have a perfect faith in Christ, when people us FB as a means to manipulate people’s perceptions of their life. We pick only the best pictures, and (both figuratively and literally) photoshop the ugly out of our lives. We can be whoever we want on FB, and that is scary... It is scary because it opens the door for deception, it lets us pretend to be who we aren’t.
Some brave person proclaiming God’s greatness, by means of FB, literally saved a person’s life today. Hearing this story has strengthened my support for FB. Hearing this story has made me believe that I am right in sharing God with other people by means of FB. And I encourage anyone else to do the same, but please.... Make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. Do it to glorify and lift up the image of God, not for yourself.
The second topic of significance has to do with the impact that sharing the name of God can have. This story is a perfect example of that. We all hate, or would hate, having to wonder what we could have done differently to support a friend in utter need. You never know the ways in which God could use you to help out a friend. You never know the ways in which God can use your faith to reach a lost soul. You just never know... There is so much strength behind the name of Christ, we should all be courageous and fearless in our proclamation of God’s greatness. Whether that is with FB or not. We should never hesitate to lift of the word of God. You never know when there is someone out there that is at the lowest of lows. You never know when there is someone that needs, more than anything, to hear the name of Christ. You never know when someone can finally realize what it is they have been missing. You never know how God may use you...........
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