The advance of social media has had a greater impact on culture than anything else I can remember in my lifetime. It has brought us together as far as common knowledge goes, but it has bitterly divided us like nothing else. I have Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts. All of these give us a platform, if you will, to let our opinions be known. Or, just a place for cute pictures. For every heart-warming post, I see ten political posts. And then there are those annoying “copy and paste” ones that I completely skip over now. I guess those are the equivalent of those old “If you’re not ashamed of Jesus you’ll forward this to 20 others” emails. If you have a lot of time on your hands you can join in a good old political or theological debate. Facebook and Twitter are the place to be for these if you dare to jump in, although it doesn’t take a lot of courage to hide behind your smart phone or computer to do that.
Last time I checked, I had 745 “friends” on Facebook. I’ve had an actual face to face, ear to ear conversation with no more than 15 percent of them in the past 10 years. Many of those other “friends” I’ve never once met. It is practically impossible for me to have a meaningful conversation with 745 people who are scattered literally around the globe.
About a year ago I reactivated my Twitter account which I had never used. I began following a variety of people, most of whom I had never met. Some were authors I had read, or voices I had heard on a podcast. Some of them have theological or political views that differed from mine, but I have no doubt that most of them love and worship the same God that I do. Because of this, a wonderful thing has happened in my heart. I now realize that in spirit we are all one in Christ. In practicality though, we are a divided mess. We speak of a coming awakening and harvest of souls like it’s just going to swoop down upon us one day without any desire on our part to come together as one.
There is a line in a song written by Nathan Isaacs that says, “What if WE are the awakening we’ve been waiting for?” The body of Christ should look like He whose body we are, right? In John 17 Jesus prayed that we would all be one, even as He and the Father are one. That prayer hasn’t been answered yet and I don’t believe it will until we cooperate with Him. Jesus Christ is not divided.
A nasty political spirit has gripped a good portion of the American church. We’ve allowed ourselves to be sucked into a two-party political system that seeks one thing – power and control. By the way, don’t get caught up in the idea that Jesus is not political. He is political. It’s just that His politics happen to look much different. If Jesus were to have a political convention, inviting all who believe and trust in Him to attend, perhaps it might look like this: Jesus has all the believers be seated. Then He begins His speech – “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are…” Read Matthew, chapters 5-7. Then He invites the Apostle Paul to the stage and he quotes from his letter to the Galatians where he compares the works of the flesh to the fruit of the Spirit. (Gal. 5:19-26). After that, John the Beloved steps up and says, “Beloved, let us love one another….” (1 John 4:7-11). Finally, Jesus wraps it up by retelling the parable of the sheep and goats, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me.” (Matt. 25:31-46).
So how will Jesus’ prayer for us to be one be answered? By putting our hope and trust in a way of living that transcends current politics. A way that is neither Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or anything else.
It’s the Jesus way.
He is the Way.
May we be one,
Kevin