I unfollowed yet another person on Facebook today. It was a pastor. I actually agreed with what he was saying in his video, but it wasn’t providing any hope or help.
He was talking of the importance of churches keeping Christ first, which was good. But his delivery was this: Beware of those churches. Stay away from those churches. Pray for repentance for those churches. It was all criticism, all shade thrown into the picture.
One of the big criticisms I have for the way Christians approach social media is that they often paint in only two colors. The things they’re notorious for saying are often “don’t do this” or “this is so wrong”… It’s negativity, shade, and black-and-white thinking.
I’m not saying everything needs to be shades of gray. I’m not even saying there isn’t black and white. But God has given us so many more colors with which to see the world. Black and white is boring unless it’s presented with an array of other colors. When we can present hope, possibilities, and light along with the black and white, that’s when people will listen.
Here’s what I’d love to see more Christians posting. I’d love to see more posts about bravery. About love. About good. About the opportunities God has given His children.
In Matthew 5, The Message says it beautifully: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine!
God has made us light, not just to get attention, but to bring out God-colors in the world. We shine not to paint the world in monochrome, but to show blues, purples, yellows, reds… Brilliant colors of God’s love. His hope. His peace.
I believe part of our call as Believers is to be the hidden option for the world around us. That means that we can’t just see the world in a hopeless light like unbelievers often do. We have to seek the hope so that we can then show that hope to the world. It starts with us doing the hard work and then helping others see it.
I wrote about this a bit in my upcoming book, The Hidden Option. I’d love if you pre-ordered a copy. I believe when we all tap into this idea of showing God-colors to the world, Christians can be the example we were intended to be.