Thursday, October 27, 2011

If I Ruled the Virtual World…




"Teacher, which command in God's Law is the most important?" 
Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.'
This is the most important, the first on any list.
Matthew 22:36-38 MSG

I know it’s never gonna happen, because let’s face it—the world is not ready for that and I’m not sure how I would look in a virtual tiara. But, I am just gonna play out this little fantasy here on the blog.


First, let’s give some of you that are tech challenged a little primer:
Facebook=a social media site to interact with friends and family and share updates from your world and pictures of your cute kids and dogs and whatnot
Twitter=all that in only 140 characters
Instagram=iPhone app for sharing photos that you can edit in hipster ways and post to the two above sites and impress your friends (and in this Halloween season, scare the heck outta your friends when they open their app—stop that!)


Now, back to the fantasy…if I ruled the virtual world, these incredible tools that were obviously created by remarkably intelligent people would only be used to benefit the world and spread the Gospel.

Sidenote: Can you imagine if the apostle Paul had a Facebook? Or you could read his Twitter feed? He had a quill, some ink and papyrus in a jail cell and is still changing the world.

The same tools that are used daily to cause drama and vent your frustrations and tell people what you are watching on tv can be used for such glorious causes as well.

Now, I am not saying you can’t offer up a funny from your day or share something lighthearted. (A cheerful heart is good medicine...Proverbs 17:22 NLT)

But if our intention is to carry out what the Message calls the most important law of God, shouldn’t we be doing that in our social media habits as well? I love the way the Message phrases that verse—with all your passion. I admit my personal passion is to encourage others, especially those in ministry. My goal is for my social media to reflect that. And I am a total tech geek, I am pretty sure that shines through as well.

While I may not be ruler of the entire virtual world, I am responsible for mine. And so are you. What does your social universe look like? It merely reflects its ruler.