My heart is crushed. It’s broken. It’s overwhelmed by all of the hate and division on social media.
By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35
Christians, we are doing a lousy job of showing Christ’s love to the world right now. Christ didn’t preach hatred or contempt. He preached love. He even went so far as to love those who didn’t love Him. Love is a verb. It is an action. It is seen in how we treat others, both face-to-face and online.
I do enjoy Facebook; sadly, I have found that during this quarantine I have had to be very careful about how much time I spend scrolling. I love a good debate. My favorite days in class are those days when my students debate issues. And they loved to debate the controversial ones. However, there are rules in my classroom about debating. First, you support your side with your personal experiences, your knowledge, your data. Second, you NEVER belittle, criticize, demean or judge what the other side believes. NEVER!
I have been so disheartened to read the judgments and criticisms that are prevalent right now. If I agree with one side, I have to hate the other. If I say something it causes division. If I don’t say anything my silence is criticized.
I expect that type of behavior from the world, but the one that has hurt the most is, “How can you call yourself a Christian if you….” I have Christian friends on both sides of every issue currently facing our country. They have very strong opinions. They have information, data and personal experiences to back up what they believe. I love all of my friends. The ones that I agree with and the ones that I don’t agree with. I also believe with all my heart that every single one of them is seeking to lead a life that honors and glorifies God.
I am a Christian. I pray that everything I do brings glory and honor to God. I work diligently to make decisions grounded in scripture. Yet, according to posts that I see on social media, I shouldn’t be calling myself a Christian because of things I have done or things that I haven’t done during the last four months. It rips my heart apart to be accused of not being the right kind of Christian from behind a keyboard. Like many in America, I am in a lose-lose situation.
Every article is swayed by the person who writes it. Every news report is skewed to support the beliefs of the station reporting it. Even the data is driven by those with motives.
Scripture talks about living in unity. I think we often think that means we have to agree on everything. We don’t. Unity means we aren’t divided. Right now, we are the most divided I have ever seen our nation. I don’t have to see eye-to-eye with other Christians to worship with them and respect them. I’m not offended by them. If I wanted to, I could choose to be offended multiple times a day by things I see on TV, on social media and at the grocery store. Or I can choose to change the channel, keep scrolling or just walk past those people I don’t even know.
Are we truly seeking to understand others or are we trying to justify what we believe. I read and listen to opinions and information from both sides of every issue. I believe somewhere in the middle is the truth. There are qualified doctors on both sides of the mask wearing issue. There are people of color on both sides of the protest movement. I have friends on both sides of the reopening of schools issue.
I can’t help but wonder what would happen if we could get people from both sides to sit down and truly listen to one another. The things that we would learn. I also believe that if we could get people from both sides to truly sit and listen, we would find the best solutions. We need the energy and vitality of the youth. We need the wisdom and experiences of our elders. We need to come together and tackle our problems instead of being like the Hatfields and McCoys who eventually argued for so long they forgot what had actually fueled their hate for each other in the first place.
This is what I ask, no, this is what I beg of everyone. Please carefully consider what you are posting and sharing. I don’t know of anyone who has been swayed on a social media platform. Please meet in person with those who don’t agree with you and listen openly to what they have to say without criticism and hurtful comments. Please don’t openly wage war on social media. Too many get involved, words can so easily be misread. We are setting the tone for the future. Please let’s set a tone of mutual love and respect regardless of whether we agree on the issues or not.
I beg of you, show love the way Christ showed love.
With Eyes on the Cross 