A Word Fitly Spoken

Social media can be both a blessing and a curse. I have always kept a pretty tight reign on my newsfeed — trying to maintain a positive flow. In general, I see amazing stories, beautiful photos, funny memes, hilarious videos, and so many encouraging words and scriptures. And as a general rule, I tend to follow people that I know personally and maintain a relationship with — either online or in real life. Politically, my family is pretty polarized — we have folks on both sides of the aisle, which can certainly lead to some, shall I say, “interesting” comments back and forth. The same is true of my friends.

Lately though, I have noticed a trend in some of my friends’ pages. People who once spoke of spirituality, prayer, and encouraging things have shifted to a more radical position of “research” and informing their followers of plots and conspiracies. They often tie in scriptures to fit their narrative, and quote prophets and “woke” spiritualists who confirm or agree with this narrative. From 5G towers spreading the CoronaVirus, to Bill Gates’s evil agenda, they have all kinds of “proof” that what we are experiencing as a country, the freedoms that we “are handing over to the government,” is all being orchestrated, and most of us are just unaware sheep… ready to blindly follow Dr. Fauci and company off a proverbial cliff to certain slavery. So I see these posts and memes and then I see my friends who approve of them with a “like” and think…wait… what is going on here? There’s an underlying thread that seems like, “If you don’t believe / agree with this stuff, then you are not ‘woke,’ like me.” “Do your research. Don’t be blinded,” “I’m not going to live in fear.” and so on.

So people are out there protesting, demanding their first amendment right to assemble. Pastors are defying the order to not gather by holding large church services. Folks are disdaining wearing masks. Others are saying that social distancing is a hoax and doesn’t actually do anything. Some are sharing statistics about other diseases and causes of death and asking why we are not shutting the country down because of smoking deaths, for example. 

“But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.” — James 3:17 

My friend and I were talking about this issue and they said, “Again, I ask the question, what are they hoping for as an outcome right now? That we all defy the guidelines? That we don’t trust the President? That we… I mean I really don’t understand their end goal right now. What are they after in the immediate?” It’s a good question. 

You are going down the Google rabbit-hole of research, but in the process you are giving yourself over to wild speculation and fear-mongering, often based on conspiracy theories that, in all reality, ultimately won’t be proven to be true. By posting that kind of misinformation, it contributes to the spread of falsehoods, of suspicion, and in the end, it causes an “us vs. them” mentality. Bob and I were talking the other day about fear-mongering and he said, “From the early days of humanity, there have been conspiracies.” And he’s right. A friend of his who works in Washington DC confirmed that life in government work is a reality of the constant swirl of conspiracies. When friends or people we respected make the jump into this fray, it can be disheartening. 

As my friend aptly put it, “I start feeling that despite how long I have followed this person and respected their good writing or advice previously, now it’s like I don’t want to be on the team with them anymore.” They said, “All week I’ve had Proverbs 25:11 running through my mind. ‘A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.’ Are the things we’re speaking refined (gold) and redemptive (silver)? I also think the reverse is true — are the things we’re listening to ‘words that are fitly spoken?’ 

Another friend told me a story about a agnostic guy he knows who is genuinely seeking the deeper matters of faith. He said to my friend, “Why are Christians posting about 5G and conspiracy theories, and why are they not obeying the government by social distancing and wearing masks and such?” What kind of a testimony are those who claim to follow Christ being to those who are watching how we are responding in these days? 

We have a tremendous opportunity to be encouragers, light-givers, and truth-speakers. We can use this platform to spread hope and positivity, or we can spread misinformation and create confusion and fear. We can choose to sow doubt or we can point upward, to Christ. I say we choose to point people upward and choose to live above the fray of chaos and confusion and stay steady. Use this opportunity to share words that are “fitly spoken.” Flood your social media with hope, encouragement, and truth. Light and love will win.