Honest Thoughts from a Pastor

Social media can be a lot of fun. It can also, however, be full of opinions. Some of those opinions are on target, and some are pretty far-fetched. Yesterday, I had both. Both individuals called me out, and I was left alone to process the comments.

The first comment was a bit out there. I was accused of being “in it for the money”. My initial reaction was, “This person doesn’t even know me. How can this individual make such a confident comment about me?” After a few minutes, I laughed. I thought, “If you saw my financial situation, you are probably a lot better off than I am. I don’t make a lot of money, but I’m content in knowing that I am doing God’s will for this stage of my life.” It was a reminder that we all have critics. These people feel they are experts on our life. They “know” our every motive and intention. I’m convinced they just might have a little too much time on their hands. We just have to let them talk, do our best to love them despite their critical spirit, and know that God truly knows our hearts (which should be the most sobering thought for us all).

The next “callout” was a bit more of an accurate assessment. The bottom line of this assessment was that I did not pray before I shared a particular tweet. This honest thought might get quite a few stones thrown at me, but I didn’t pray before I posted that. Half of my intention was good because I really needed prayer as I am getting close to Sunday, and I am unclear about exactly what God would have me preach. Part of it was semi-related to the rest of the tweet. Did I commit the unpardonable sin by tweeting this? No! Did this individual challenge me to prayerfully address what is often considered something less significant like a tweet? Yes!

The truth is that many of us do things with little to no prayer preceding the action. We often operate on feelings and are more prone to use prayer as a last resort or for something we deem important. Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said in Philippians 4:6 that “In EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.” We should be in constant communion with God, even about what we consider to be little things. When we do not approach something prayerfully, we can often do big harm with small actions.

I know social media can be enough to drive us crazy. There are times when I am tempted to delete it all. Then God uses something He gives me to help others. While social media has the tendency to make lions out of kittens, there are people on these platforms who know how to use it properly. Let us make the choice to be among those who use it wisely.