Growth Purpose

Using Social Media for God’s Glory

“Comparison is the thief of joy.”

This saying, perhaps more than any other, characterizes the ensnarement that many find themselves in when it comes to using social media. It is attributed to a variety of individuals, all of them who lived long before Twitter or Facebook, yet it articulates what so many have experienced when engaging with the social media platforms. As they look at the lives of others, and the number of friends or followers they have, it is easy to feel that their own life is somehow lacking. Joy diminishes as their experiences seem insufficient compared to the online lives of others.

For this reason, and others, some people resist the social siren call. They figure if they aren’t on the platforms, there is little chance that they will be tempted to discontentedness as a result of them. Yet even this can threaten to be a robber of joy as they “miss out” on the news and experiences that people share online. Feeling “out of the loop” can prompt feelings of inadequacy just as much as comparison can.

There is, however, another way to approach the labyrinth that is social media. Instead, of viewing it as a place to share (or not share) what is going on in your life, it can become one more tool to be used for God’s glory. Social media gives each Christian the opportunity to proclaim what God is doing in their lives and to reach many more people than has ever been possible. While there will surely be some who recoil at using the platform for these purposes, opposition has never been an excuse for not doing what God has called a Christian to do. And God has called His children to share His Good News – first in their circles of influence and then in locations across the globe.

So what are some mindsets that we can adopt to use social media well – to ensure that we are using it as a tool that God has given us to further His purposes? Here are three principles

1) Focus on glorifying God

This may seem like the Sunday School suggestion but it is a good practice to ask ourselves before we post – “Why I am sharing this?”. If the answer to the question is anything other than because we think it will give God glory then we clearly need to rethink whether it is something that needs to be shared. In my own life, I have found that this has stopped me from sharing what others may consider pretty innocuous things. I knew that the problem wasn’t the content – in and of itself it was not dishonoring to God – but my motivation for posting it was not what it should be. I was prompted by the desire for human acclaim (“likes” can be compelling little motivators, can’t they?) and not because I was desiring for God to get honor and praise. When we celebrate our kids’ successes, when we share the good things that God has given us, and even when we rejoice in the opportunities He provides, let’s check our hearts to make sure that He is the reason that we want to share these things with the world. If He is not, we need to repent and reconsider our social posting.  But if He is, we should readily proceed. After all, a child of God should constantly be looking for ways to give their Father acclaim.

2) Use it to bless others

We all know that social media can quickly disintegrate into a cesspool of arguments and insults. Not only should Christians refrain from engaging in this way, but instead, we should actively strive to use these platforms to bring good to the lives of other people. I personally have experienced the blessings that come when people use social media with this aim. A friend of mine regularly shares ideas and recipes with me via Pinterest because she knows that I do not like looking for them myself. My mom posts a sincere birthday message to every single person with whom she is friends with on Facebook and because she was a teacher for many years, this includes hundreds of former students. You may not be inclined to either of these particular ideas but you have your own way you can use these channels to encourage, bless, or bring good to others. Whatever the specifics are, make it your goal that because of your use of social media, people’s lives will be full of more goodness than it otherwise would have been. One benefit of such a mindset is that if you are focused on doing good to other people, it leaves little time to make comparison between your life and theirs.

A quick encouragement – if you can, strive hard to use these public platforms to encourage the pastors and ministry leaders who God has used to draw you closer to Him. Galatians 6 says that we should do good to everyone, but that fellow believers should have an extra dose of our attention when it comes to this commitment. Hebrews 13 teaches that we should let our spiritual leaders do their work with joy. We have a part to play in whether we make it easy or difficult for them to find joy in serving us. Use social media to share a way that you have benefited from being under their leadership. Tell them you are praying for them – and be appropriately specific with the requests you make on their behalf, which may prompt others to pray in the same way. Being in a position of spiritual leadership means that you are often subject to public attacks – make sure that they also experience public encouragement through your posts and shares.

3) Keep things in perspective

It has often been noted that on social media you only see the best parts of an individual’s life. After all, no one posts the pictures of the kids with their eyes closed or of the mom trying to coax everyone to look at the camera at the same time. Neither do we see the images of the chaotic house, the disappointing work day, or the hurtful conversation. It is always good to remember that we are only seeing snapshots of others’ lives and it is impossible to make an accurate comparison between it and the full length picture we know of our own story.

However, there is another way in which it is important to maintain perspective. The number of likes, follows, or shares you receive will matter little in Eternity, unless those were indicative of the ways in which you used social media to reach more people for the sake of Christ. If a post doesn’t have a single like, but God uses it to prompt someone to trust in Him, than that is the most valuable post you have, regardless of what the platform’s analytics say. You may not know this side of Heaven how God is using your social engagement to draw others to Him. It is a tool, and as with any tool God has given us, we should use it with discernment and wisdom, but ultimately the results are up to Him. Social media will never reveal our worth; our value should be rooted in the fact that we are children of the King. The comparison is not then between what others have, and what we do not. Instead it is between those that know God, and those who do not. And if we are God’s children, we know that there is nothing else that is of comparative worth.


Titus 2:10 instructs followers of Christ to “adorn the Gospel” – to live in such a way as people find following Christ attractive and appealing. If this is how we are to live our lives, it is certainly how we should engage with social media. As we do so, may many more come to trust in the One Whom we serve.

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Growth

Growing in Gratitude

It is the time of the year where many hearts and minds turn towards thankfulness. It is a blessing that in the United States we have a day on the calendar that compels us to focus our thoughts to our blessings and prompts us to express thanks for them. However, many people recognize that this spirt of thanks shouldn’t happen just one season a year. Instead, we all would benefit from having more thanksgiving in our lives.

How can we grow in gratitude? Here are three practices to employ:

1. Choose to Be Content

If we want to have more gratitude in our hearts, the first thing that we need to do is to choose to be content. This may sound easier said than done; we are inclined to think that contentedness is about what we have rather than recognizing that it is a condition of the heart. Paul said that he had learned to be content with much and with little (Phil. 4:11-12), thereby demonstrating that our conditions and our circumstances are not prerequisites for contentment. This is a choice that we can make. And if we want to have more thankful hearts, it is a choice that we should make, each and every day.

In his classic book on contentment, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Jeremiah Burroughs brings this point home by stating that contentment is not a matter of acknowledging what we lack, and then choosing to be happy anyway. Instead, contentment changes our focus all together. A contented heart puts the focus on all that they have – all that they have been given. Burroughs further encourages his readers to put their difficulties side-by-side with their blessings. If we are honest when we do this, we will realize that there is far more good in our lives than there are challenges. God delights in giving good gifts to His kids (Mt. 7:11) and even during difficult seasons, we still experience an overwhelming amount of God’s good. A heart that chooses to be content recognizes this, and deliberately, intentionally chooses to focus on this truth.

2. Cultivate a Heart of Thanks

It may seem like I’m using circular logic here, but please stick with me. If we want to be more grateful, we need to cultivate a heart of thanks. And if we want to grow gratitude in the lives of our kids, we need to do the same thing with them. In other words, a life of gratitude doesn’t just happen – it needs to be nurtured and developed. In our own lives, this may mean that we intentionally look for things that we can give thanks for. Recently, I’ve been trying to find the “little” things that I appreciate about my husband and specifically thank him for those things. For example, we recently needed a new vehicle and he did all of the research on the car and all the budgetary planning to make the purchase possible. It turns out he loves doing this, but more importantly in this context, because he did it, I didn’t have to –  AT ALL. It is tempting to just look at this as one person in the marriage using their skills and passions to benefit the family – and it was that! But it also was a way that he blessed me and recognizing that is a reason to give thanks – both to him and to our good God who gave me the gift of my husband.

When farmers want to cultivate land to grow a specific fruit or vegetable, they don’t just throw down some soil and some seed and hope that with infrequent attention, plants will grow. No – they take care of it; they work at it, and they give the seedlings the time and care that they need to flourish into healthy produce. If we want to grow gratitude in our hearts, we need to do the same. We need to examine our lives and see where we lack gratitude and commit to more frequently gives thanks in those areas. We also need to look at where there are seedlings of gratefulness and commit to bring those embryonic beginnings into established and flourishing flora of gratitude. Having a life of gratitude doesn’t just happen, and we need to purpose to cultivate more thanks in our life if we want to grow in gratefulness.

It may be that we want to increase our kids’ propensity towards thankfulness, and in their lives too, this requires that we cultivate hearts of thanks. When they are young, this means that we teach them when to say thank you, and we model lives of gratitude for them. It also means that we point out opportunities for thanksgiving – when bad things that could have happened, don’t, and when we experience God’s good provision in our family. Lastly, cultivating gratitude in the lives of our kids means that we teach them to express thanks appropriately. This means that they need to acknowledge who they are giving thanks to by looking them in the eye and by being specific for what they are grateful. If they are giving thanks to God, looking Him in the eye is out of the question, but they should still be specific in listing their blessings. Simply saying “thank you” is a cultural convention – let’s work to teach our kids to truly be grateful for what they have been given by specifically and respectfully acknowledging those to whom they owe gratitude.

3. Give to Others More

The last way that we can grow in gratitude is to give to others more. Giving to others may seem unrelated to our personal thankfulness, but the more that we sacrifice for the good of others, the more we realize how many blessings we truly have. There may be some reading this who object because they think that they don’t have a lot to give. And it may be true that your monetary resources are limited. But giving financially isn’t the only way to bless others. We can (and should!) give of our time, our talents, and our non-monetary resources. For example – maybe you can’t afford to take someone out to a restaurant, but you have been given a home, and you can invite that person over to share dinner with you. One of the best gifts I was ever given was a backdrop made for a tea party. I was hosting the birthday celebration for a friend’s little girl who had just gone through a tragic loss. I wanted the party to be great, but my skills in crafting and creativity are pretty minimal. My friend sent me ideas of what to do for the party, and then offered to make the backdrop (because we both knew that hers would be significantly better than anything I could pull off.) It required the use of her time and skills, and it made me so thankful that God had given her to me as a friend and that He had gifted her in that way. God has blessed you in many ways; and if you go back to listing your blessings as we discussed earlier, you are well aware of this fact. Use some of these blessings to bless someone else. You will be more grateful for all that you have been given when you utilize them for the good of another person. And you may just increase the thanks in their hearts as well.

It is a gift to have a day denoted for the purpose of giving thanks. But let’s not let the gratitude that we experience on Thanksgiving end when the day comes to a close. Instead, let’s purpose to grow in gratitude each and every day of the year. And let’s remember that expressions of gratitude always require an object (we have to be thankful to someone). The Christian realizes that all good gifts come from God (James 1:17) and therefore increased gratitude in our hearts, should lead to increase praise of Him.

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