It never ends anymore does it? I mean all of our little wars, they never really end. If it is not one thing in our lives it is another or another…
When I was a kid we didn’t have any of the technology that is available too us today. We had a newspaper and encyclopedias for information. We had gossip and word of mouth if we wanted to get the dirt. We had the radio and the nightly news if we wanted to know anything important. Other than that though our days were blissfully ignorant. If we wanted to know something or spread something you had to work to get it done.
Not anymore, we can now twitter or tweet ( whatever you call it ) we can instagram, blog ( like me ) and of course there is facebook. Everything we want is at our fingertips.
And the beautiful thing about these new technologies is not just that you can find any information you are looking for but you can wage war against anything or anyone that you would like and never have to confront it or them. And you don’t even have to get dressed to do it. You can hide behind a phone or computer screen and get front row seats to families and friends waging a war or you can wage your own and give all your “friends” and “family” front row seats to your battle.
Let me be honest. I have done my share of fighting a silent war on facebook. I have posted my little “messages” and aired things that didn’t need aired. Thankfully I don’t have a phone capable of twittering or you can be sure I would have hung some nasty zingers out to dry on that too. We all do it or have done it to some degree or another, it is after all in our nature to want to be in the know and for others to know that we are.
But lately I have wanted better than that. I don’t mind sharing anothers burdens or struggles on public media. It gives me a chance to stop, read and pray for a friend who has just lost a loved one, or is going through a divorce or just had a stressful day. Public media gives me the chance to know a 2nd cousin I have never met in real life….roots…. I love that.
But it also gives me a chance to gossip, to harbor bitterness, to get fuel for my fire. It gives me a chance to be a hater. Every post that I read that I know is a secret code for jabbing someone lets me sit in the seat of judgement a little to comfortably……which when you think about it really I am trying to sit on the throne of the Most High because He is the only one with the right to judge.
It feels that everything now a days is in your face, in your face, IN YOUR FACE, demanding that you pay attention to it. And I do pay attention to it even when I know I shouldn’t.
Everyone believes that their version of the truth is the real version and they must get their message out so that they can poke holes in the truth of the other versions, so they can be patted on the back for confronting lies……..or tearing down the walls of the enemy. We only end up tearing each other down in the end.
Really there is only one version of the truth that matters and it is not ours. It is God’s. Maybe we ( I ) should be seeking God’s view of the truth before we spew ours. Maybe we ( I ) should keep our wars as private wars a bit more instead of dragging everyone we “know” to the arena.
I am not saying that there is not a legitimate need to confront sin or that God doesn’t want sin exposed for what it is. What I am saying is that maybe we should be led by the Holy Spirit on the how and the when rather than sitting behind a computer screen shooting helpful zingers that are really aimed at proving our point to the other parties.
I raise my hand and I say I am guilty of this. And truthfully right now I want to be guilty of it again. I want to have my say. But my heart is kind of weary of seeing it from others, of knowing situations and watching a silent but very real war waged in public. I think to myself…..do I want to be a part of that? Do I want to be part of something that pollutes and discourages others hearts?
Or do I want to use this wonderful public media to encourage? I would rather be an encourager. Like I said, I don’t mind seeing peoples hurts and frustrations and I don’t mind putting some of mine out there. But when it comes to waging silent wars on public media…..I just think wow I am so tired of being used as a bat to hurt others or using others as my bat to dish out hurt. Because isn’t that what we do when we pull innocent bystanders into our battles? we get so busy flinging mud that we don’t realize or we don’t care that the mud has only hit the people who have nothing to do with any of it.
Philippians 4:8
The Message (MSG)
8-9 Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.
dandelionpompoms 