If you know me personally, you know that I love talking about theology, the world’s problems, science, laughing, and that I love Jesus. If you only know me from social media, you probably think that I’m a goofball who likes laughing a whole lot, who loves Jesus, but REALLY loves laughing. Both of these statements are true, but the difference is that I keep my statuses, tweets, instagrams, and whatever social media usage to the most fluffy or light topics imaginable. As a Christian, this may be frowned upon in some circles that my social media presence is not merely Bible verses or thoughts about God all of the time. However, there are a few reasons for this, and have actually thought them out:
It allows me to be a more relatable person.
Now, I’m not saying that I’m better than anyone for doing this, I just really believe that as a Christian, the best thing I can do to further God’s Kingdom is first make me a relatable person. Before I became a Christian, I could have cared less about reading a Bible verse or reading some theological quip from a pastor with “#BOOM” after it. I went on social media to laugh, and maybe see what’s going on in people’s lives. There’s definitely not anything wrong with posting things about God (heck, I do sometimes), but I can GUARANTEE you that anyone that you’re trying to “minster to” via social media has already unfollowed/muted/unfriended you, meaning they’re not even seeing it. And honestly, the Gospel doesn’t get furthered from tweets or social media. The Gospel gets spread through relationships and intentional living. By me trying to be more relatable and being viewed as a person instead of only a Christian, I believe that this is me intentionally becoming “all things to all people”, as well as practicing my freedom in Christ to make jokes and laugh. Not only this, but when we post things that make us relatable, our friends are more likely to actually read the things about the Bible or God that we do post.
It pushes me to have more face-to-face conversations about God.
Because I’m not talking about God on social media means that I have to seek out community that will get me to talk about God, friends that want to talk about God, and people to evangelize to. Social media more often than not isolates us instead of connecting us with our friends than we believe. (Watch THIS VIDEO to learn more on that. Seriously, it takes under 5 minutes and it’s well worth your time.) Genuine community means face-to-face, so the lighter I keep my social media and the less personal information I share, the more I want to talk to close friends about it, which is the type of connection I need anyway.
Not everyone actually cares on social media.
I’m not saying this to make everyone pessimistic and think that no one cares about what you think (because that’s not true AT ALL), but what I AM saying is that probably not everyone on social media that follows you/is your friend gives to rips about what you think or believe. I bet that every single person reading this has at one point seen a post, rolled their eyes, and thought “UGH. That is so dumb!!!!” Plus, we all know that social media is a TERRIBLE place to keep “discussion” (if you want to call it that) civil or change anyone’s mind on any subject. Normally what happens is insults start being thrown and the CAPS LOCK STARTS BEING TURNED ON BECAUSE I DISAGREE AND I AM OFFENDED BY WHAT YOU SAID. I’m not saying that you can’t post what you believe on social media, but just know that replying to someone that disagrees with you with anything other than the words “Huh. I’d love to grab (insert beverage here) with you sometime and talk about this sometime” will end in yelling. Also, this relates back to point one. Most people follow or read what they agree with—if someone disagrees with you, they’re probably not reading it anyway, unless they’re someone who constantly looks for a fight on Facebook.
With these points in mind, hopefully you can now better understand why I keep things fluffy on social media. Maybe you will, too, now. If not, that’s fine. Just know that I do love Jesus, even when I don’t seem to say a whole lot on the matter on the social medias, but am trying to be a more relatable person, while also making the internet a less cynical and argumentative place.