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1 year ago
SOCIAL NETWORK RAGE!
So this morning I was checking out what everyone was up to in their lives via facebook. It always makes me chuckle when people rage out on FB or twitter. It happens all the time. Social networks have made it super easy for everyone to lash out at someone or group of people, complain about the smallest of events, and do all this in under a minute after it happens.
I guess the question we need to ask is how valid are these fits of rage? There was some social rage in the Book of John …
[3] The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst [4] they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. [5] Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” [6] This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. [7] And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” [8] And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. [9] But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. (John 8:3-9 ESV)
In this piece of scripture a group brings a woman that had just messed up, but look at the first part of verse 6 again. Was it really about the woman at all or about their own agenda? On any other day would they have brought this woman out to a crowd to shame her if they weren’t trying to get Jesus to do something to charge against him? In the end everyone walks away. Jesus made them look at their own lives.
No one is perfect, Jesus was and is. I’m not, that annoying old lady driving 10 under in front of you is not, the kid on his cell phone thinking they need to be heard by everyone is not, and you’re not either. Next time you feel the urge to rage about how dumb someone else is, take a deep breath and remember we’re not perfect either. Some things people do are rude, inconsiderate, and may be dumb. But allow me to end with this …
[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. [30] And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. [31] Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. [32] Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:29-32 ESV)
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