Facebook Religion
What if I told you that in five years your entire spiritual life will consist of you posting Bible verses on Facebook? That you would have no church, no small group, no pastor and no desire to find one. Would that surprise you? Would that shock you? It doesn’t shock me because I see it every day.
It’s easy to have Facebook religion because you don’t have to deal with real people; you don’t have to love the unlovely, you don’t have to be scolded by the ungracious, you don’t have to lift up the wounded, you don’t have to be discouraged by the difficult and you don’t have to hang around all those hypocrites. There is no collection plate, no students to be mentored and no accountability. With Facebook religion you can just post some religious images now and then, stay home on Sundays, and maintain your faith without any of the heavy lifting. It is the perfect church for the self-absorbed.
James says in his writing (1:27), “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” The point is clear; following Jesus is about getting your hands dirty by serving real people, in real life and in real situations. Following Jesus is about loving people with the practical kind of love that makes you do without something for yourself so somebody else can have something for themselves. Following Jesus is not about isolating yourself from people or the body of Christ but rather it is engaging yourself with people - sometimes even the last people you thought you would ever associate with - even when it costs you something personally. Facebook religion loathes the gritty reality of what it means to be the family of God and the light of the world. It is so much easier to be a great Christian when nobody’s watching you and you’re just posting Bible verses on Facebook.
God’s church is in this valley to change people and to change things. We are here to bring light to the darkness. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the most amazing agent of change that there is and those who believe become something totally different. But we cannot change anything if we disengage from the church (Jesus’ body) and its mission and this culture to practice Facebook religion.
