Be Real on Social Media

Be real and be authentic on social media.

I know most all of our students now avoid Facebook.  We old people have scared them away.

If a person checking your church out, or even if one of your church members were to look at your Facebook page, instagram account, Twitter account what would they see?  What opinion about you might they construct in their mind.

We need to be real on our social media.  People need to see the real us.  Why?
If all they see on our posts or tweets is "churchy things", scripture verses, "holy" memes then they will construct an opinion that you are some sort of holier than thou, out of reach, on a pedestal, or possibly even think we are out of touch with the real world.  But if they see you post a pic of your meal with your spouse at a nice restaurant on date night, a tweet about something happening in your community, a post about something that you are upset about then they will see that you are human, just like them.

You see what the world needs to see in us is that we are human, we struggle, we have passions, we have causes we stand behind, we even engage in politics, we are part of a local motorcycle club, we are just like them.  The only difference that should be apparent, if the person reading our social media posts isn't a believer, is they should see what a relationship with Jesus Christ does in our lives and how it molds who we are even in our every day life.

Post what brings you joy.  

Post what makes you happy.

Post what brings you down.

Post what you are passionate about.

Post things that show you are a normal human being.

Post your scripture verses, devotional thoughts, church events, helpful Christian articles.



Don’t put individuals down.  Don’t engage in arguments.  The chances my Facebook debate is going to change someone’s mind is slim to nil.  I see Christians attack other Christians more over the past few years on Facebook and it seems to be increasing.



Post God’s truth but do it in love.  Sometimes the best thing love can do is to be quiet.  Believe me, this is hard, especially for those of us who don’t have the spiritual gift of mercy.



Scriptures we could apply to our social media presence:

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! 

Galatians 5:22-23



So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”  John 13:34-35



Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.   Ephesians 4:15