How to Engage with Social Media in a No-Win Situation - The Crosswalk Devotional - September 1
How to Engage with Social Media in a No-Win Situation
By Deidre Braley
Bible Reading:
“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,
‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.’
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.” – Matthew 11:16-19
The other day I fell down the rabbit hole of social media and, before I knew it, I was like Alice in Wonderland: disoriented, and suddenly feeling uncertain about reality.
I had meant to just hop on and respond to a message from a client, but I got distracted by a “recommended post,” and when I clicked on it, it took me to another social media platform altogether. After I’d been carried over there, I was a goner. I began to scroll through these all-new-to-me people, each with their own strong opinions, loud crowds, and unwavering certainty.
By the time I surfaced for air, I was completely dejected. I felt a sense of whiplash from the digital back-and-forth I had just witnessed, and felt a sort of ethereal confusion I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I thought, There’s just no getting it right! It doesn’t matter what you say or think; someone will always completely disagree with you—and they won’t be afraid to malign you for it either.
I often hear people say that we live in unprecedented times, and while it might be true that our technology is evolving across new frontiers, reading passages like the one above leads me to believe there is actually nothing unprecedented about the human heart. In Matthew 11, Jesus voices the same frustration—the same no-win situation—that I felt that day on social media. People had something critical to say about everyone and everything—no matter what they did or did not do. John the Baptist didn’t eat and drink, and people claimed he had a demon (v.18). Jesus did eat and drink, and people called him a glutton, a drunkard, and—gasp!—a friend of tax collectors and sinners (v.19).
In the meantime, the people were so busy speculating about John and Jesus and judging their every move that they missed the point: that the kingdom of Heaven was in their very midst, and that God had drawn near enough for them to actually touch. I find it interesting that in the following section of Scripture, Jesus begins to denounce the cities where he had done his most powerful works, because the people within them had still not repented—that is, turned back toward him (Matthew 11:20-24). They had encountered the Living God and missed the point entirely. I wonder if they too were too busy squabbling over his dinner habits to recognize who was even standing in front of them.
Intersecting Faith & Life:
How are we meant to conduct ourselves in this current digital landscape, then? Looking at this passage of Scripture, Jesus seems to address the fickle, critical, and discontented heart in two phases. By giving our hearts the same treatment, we will not necessarily change the current reality of social media, but we will be able to maintain hold of reality while engaging with it:
1. Repent (Matthew 11:20-24)
Repentance requires a posture of humility and openness to the works of God in our lives. It requires us to draw near to God and to admit that all the power and glory goes to him. In this posture, we cannot claim to know everything or to control everything. Rather, we must say, “God’s will be done.” That’s when we see Love pouring through every crevice of our souls. That’s when we are transformed by his goodness. This allows us to see the people we encounter as God does: as beloved children, often in need of heaping amounts of grace.
2. Rest (Matthew 11:25-30)
In the passage that follows Jesus’s lament over the cities that did not repent, he famously says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (v. 28). In other words, he invites us to put down our worldly concerns, to rest in him, and to learn his ways of gentleness and humility. He wants to be our Comforter—and our Teacher.
When we take the time to turn toward Jesus (and away from our own self-righteousness) and then allow him to comfort and teach us, we can enter the digital world grounded in the reality of his love and presence—and then are able to extend it toward others. It frees us from the no-win cycle of bickering, blaming, judging, and pandering so we can do what really matters: bring the presence of Christ to everyone we encounter.
Further Reading:
Jesus often addressed the religious leaders, who spent so much time speculating over Jesus’s authority that they missed the opportunity to experience him as Savior in their own lives. Look at how Jesus responds to them in Matthew 12.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Martin DM
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