recentchristian

Seeing this post on Facebook made me think about how much wisdom it takes to share appropriately on Facebook (or any social media or social situations) and discerning when and how much to share.

We, as Christians, need to take care in what and how much we share and be intentional to run everything through the filter of the Bible.  As Christians, we are held to a higher standard (by God’s unchanging standard) and, also because we are Christians, we are open to more criticism and persecution by the world that we are in but that we hopefully are not a part of.  Often, I feel as though people at work look at me, waiting for me to make a misstep so they can call me out for not being a “good” Christian or to give them ammunition against Christianity.

It’s so important to remember that we’ve (every single one of us, no one excluded) inherited sin and there is forgiveness when we repent.  I mean truly repent.  Not just a quick “sorry God” and then go right back to the same sin.  I think that living an intentional Christian life is of the utmost importance. 

The more I read the Bible and meditate (asking what the passage says about (a) God; (b) Christ; (c) life; and (d) the way I ought to live life) upon the words therein, the more I’m convinced that I must live an intentional Christian life.

As a female in the church, I wrestle with when I should correct a male in the church and share the wisdom of the Gospel. I was face to face with someone that needed correction, someone who (uninvited by the eldership) got up behind the pulpit during Adult Sunday School (the Pastor wasn’t there that Sunday to conduct the class).  I chose to walk out rather than correct the person publicly.  It seemed like some grandstanding was going on, but I don’t know that man’s heart intention. I did let the Pastor know at a later date that maybe printing a one-pager and setting it on the pulpit to let people know that they need to be invited to the pulpit to be there.  If you’re reading this and have a (Biblically based) opinion on if I should have corrected this man publicly, please do leave a comment – one pastor advised that I could have, but I’m not entirely sure.

Some people also over-share other peoples’ things that they ought not share. 

Recently at church, I approached another church member and let her know I was praying for her and asked her how things were with the rhinos (I’m calling it the “rhinos” to protect confidentiality of all parties). When I asked her about the rhinos, her jaw dropped and she asked me where I heard that.  I let her know I heard about it in the morning prayer group, letting her know that someone else at church talked about her struggles with rhinos in the prayer group. She was quite taken aback and let me know it wasn’t rhinos, and it was actually giraffes.  She asked a few more direct questions and she realized just how much other person overshared without having permission to share anything at all.

It’s important that we all have wisdom with when, how much and if we should share at all:

• Have we been given permission to share?
• Did this person confide in you?

In this case, I believe the heart intention of the person in the pray group was good but, it was still shared when it shouldn’t have been.  The person who over-shared is a chatty extrovert and I believe discernment is even more important for people who lean more towards being extroverts.  I’m an extremely introverted person so don’t have to concern myself with this as much but I certainly have my own set of things that need more care and discernment.

We all need wisdom, for this and for other things.  When I pray, I ask for wisdom often and I’ll continue asking for wisdom for myself and for others when I pray.

The greatest source for wisdom is the Bible … here’s a link to some Bibles on Amazon: https://amzn.to/41diC64