Discipleship Episode 4, Love Your Enemy Part 3

 

¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸ If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Romans 12:17-18 English Standard Version

               As a senior planner for MNC-I (Multi-National Corps-Iraq), I developed and helped implement plans that moved men and materiel around the globe, deploying them against our enemy, resulting in the deaths of terrorists and other belligerents. Modern communications technology aided in this effort, enabling me to coordinate actions across time-zones, oceans, and continents. My words, transmitted globally, set into motion events directed against my enemies. As a civilian, I enjoy the same level of communications ability. Using various digital platforms, my words and images may be viewed and read across oceans and continents, hopefully with less lethal results. This modern age with its astounding technology gives each one of us global reach. With a few keystrokes or finger swipes we send messages zipping around, influencing friends and strangers scattered across the earth. The question we must grapple with is, what will we do with this immense power?

               We do not need encouragement to say good things to our friends and family. We easily do that; but, what will I say about those I dislike, my “enemies” that are far away? I’ve noticed that we increasingly view those who do not think the way we do as the enemy. In fact, many of us consider ourselves in some sort of war. Much of what appears in my feed is an attack on someone’s perceived enemy. Most of the time, we aim these attacks at some vague nebulous far-off enemy…but not always. Sometimes we attack someone close simply because they do not think like we do. We throw digital bombs with little thought. We see some post or meme that we like and copy and paste it into our feed with little thought about how others may perceive it. The anonymity of the internet has lulled us into some very un-Christian behaviors regarding those we consider our “enemies.” Perhaps, if we consider the following three guidelines, we might better reflect Christlike behavior in our online communication.

1.     Post in Love: ¹⁴ Let all that you do be done in love. I Corinthians 16:14 So much of what I see, especially in the realm of political-social commentary is quite mean spirited. Sometimes I think many of us majored in snark while at university. When I sit, with finger poised over the “post” icon, do I consider love? Now, limiting our postings to those done in love, does not mean that we only post roses, bunnies, unicorns, and rainbows. Paul reminds us, in Ephesians 4:15, that part of growing up into Christ is learning how to “speak the truth in love.” We do not show love by telling someone that all is well, when in fact it is not. But, I seriously doubt that speaking the truth in love includes sarcastic, mean spirited, or snarky posts. Sometimes loving someone includes helping them deal with an unpleasant truth. But, telling the truth does not excuse belligerent, abusive, or sarcastic posting.

2.    Post the Truth: We all enjoy finding that meme or short missive that supports our viewpoint and putting it out there for all to see. We think that somehow it validates our worldview. We would do well to remember this passage from the Psalms: “No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes. Psalm 101:7” Before I hit post, have I ensured that what I am sharing is in fact true. We’ve all read those memes which may contain some truth, but really present a picture grounded in falsehood. Those of us who claim to follow Jesus must make the effort to verify before we post. We damage the name of Christ when we post willy-nilly, not to mention risking being rejected by God. In addition to the spiritual failure this displays, posting lies or distorted facts makes it harder for us to come together as a society, make sound decisions as a community, and move forward. We may consider those of another party as “enemies,” but if we want to show them love, we must remain wedded to the truth. As Jesus said, “And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32

3.     Post to Build Up: At its core, communication seeks to understand and be understood. When we use our attempts to communicate as attacks on those we consider our enemies, we degrade our communications and forget Paul’s admonition in Ephesians 4:29 “29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Our postings need to build up our enemies, or those we disagree with. When we use our memes and other posts to attack, we do not build up. Again, this does not mean that we only post things others will agree with. Sometimes building someone up necessitates providing truth, even truth which makes us uncomfortable. But we must make sure that we indeed post truth, and that our posts have some chance of being received. We often construct posts in such a fashion as to ensure their rejection by certain populations or groups. Posts that alienate, tear down, and deepen the rift between us do not build up and perhaps most importantly, they do not well represent Jesus. Jesus always spoke the truth, even when it was uncomfortable to the listener. When we use our communiques to build up, we enhance our communication with others, particularly those who may not agree with us, and strengthen our witness to the world around us.

               We enjoy great capability with modern communications platforms. We can do things previous generations never dreamed possible. But with great capability comes great responsibility, and I fear that as Christians we’re failing. We seem so ready to follow the world down the path of posting mean spirited, spiteful, and all too frequently libelous items. As those who claim to be disciples of Jesus, we need to live differently. We must speak truth, but we must do so in a way that builds up, not tears down. We need to be the societal leaven that Jesus talks about in Luke 13:20-21, “²⁰ And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” If we construct our posts more carefully, we stand a much greater chance of being the leaven that Jesus calls us to be.

 

Thought Questions:

1.      How do you feel when you see a sarcastic post about some person a cause you hold dear?

2.     Do you tend to copy and paste posts, or do you create your own?

3.     Why do you think sarcasm is such a poor means of communicating and why do we use it?

4.     Do you consider your posts as an attempt to communicate with those who agree with you or an attempt to persuade those who disagree with you?

5.     What kind of posts do you think Jesus would send out?