Ruth Clemence – Writer and Blogger

A few months ago, I wrote a very bold post called ‘Quitting Social Media For Good‘ and why I had decided to delete my accounts. Looking over that post, my reasons for coming off social media remain. However, since writing that post, I have found my circumstances have shifted, and I have been using my writing and communication skills to help others with their social media accounts.

In the time of not having my own personal accounts, I have been seeing the wonderful things that the Lord is doing in and through His people.

How We Think About Social Media

Social media is here to stay and technology is changing and advancing (for better and for worse). What affected me was how I was using it. It would affect what I thought about. It would alter my sense of how I wanted others to see me. I am not sure it’s possible to use social media and not be completely immune from that desire for likes, comments, and shares. It’s addictive. It’s distracting. However, if we are seeking God first and are openhanded to His leading, social media is a tool that we can use for the glory of God.

Social media glorifies ‘self’ in so many ways. It is a world of self-promotion, self-care, self-reflection. Yet God entered our world of self-centredness and selfishness. He took on human flesh and died in the sinners place, Himself.

Himself.

He comes before me.

In all things, God should get the glory. I am thinking more about how I could use social media to give more glory to Him. Man looks at the outward appearance (how many likes, follows, comments, shares etc.), but God looks at the heart. Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks (Luke 6:45). The posture of my heart before God will influence how I act and speak, both online and offline. God cares about my heart.

He also cares about the souls of others, not desiring anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Since I began this blog, my longing was to point others to Jesus Christ. That has never changed. By taking time away from social media, I have realised what an opportunity using the online space is for connection, for sharing Christ-honouring content, for bringing hope to a world that is struggling to see through the hurt all around. In some way, I knew that before. But it was me that needed to take a step back. In giving myself space, I have had time to reassess how I think and use social media.

These days in which we find ourselves require much prayer in private, as well as proclamation of Christ with fervour, boldness and truthfulness. I can’t stay silent in this generation.

How We Use Social Media

Being a homeschooling mum often means my days are full on. You don’t need to be a homeschooler or a parent to know that life can be demanding. Social media has a lot to answer for in how it ‘reels’ us in (pun intended). We become sucked into a scrolling vortex of information, emotion, arguments, fear, comedy and back again. It’s mental whiplash and consumes all in its path. It can take our attention away from the life in front of us. It can unsettle us and call us to question the goodness and truth of God. It can steal the minutes off the clock, and before you know it you have spent half an hour clicking from one thing to the next.

If we see social media as a tool that we steward, we can take stock on how we use it. We can check our motives. We can slow down. We can step back. We can plan. We can build up the people behind the screens rather than ignore, hurt, or envy them. We can choose what we say or don’t say, what we post or don’t post, and ask if this will edify someone. We can see what it is doing to those around us. Are we constantly on our devices? Or are we present with the people in front of us?

How We Move Forward With Social Media

There are probably many articles online on how to manage and balance social media with the rest of our life. But Christians live for Jesus. He is not compartmentalised into a box in our life labelled ‘Jesus’. He deserves all glory, honour and praise, all of the time in all of our life. That includes social media.

May the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart be pleasing to Him (Psalm 19:14). We need His grace and power to help us every day. When we mess up, we repent and come to Him, knowing He forgives our every sin that He died for on the cross. We bring our weaknesses and failings to Him and can know that we do not stand comdemned because Christ died for us whilst we were still sinners. He can help us as we seek Him. We can also ask for others to hold us accountable in how we use social media and how it’s affecting us.

How We Put Social Media In Its Place

It amuses me that technology moves so fast. I saw a history of the BBC exhibition at a local museum. Many of TV shows I grew up with, and the technology of times gone by, are now behind glass. Ouch. Getting old over here. One generation gives way to something new and improved. But one day that ‘new’ will become history. What is seen as an improvement, could indeed bring disaster in ways yet not comprehended (AI, we’re looking at you).

I said in a previous post that social media has its place but it’s not a place I feel comfortable with anymore. There is still plenty about social media that makes me uncomfortable. But I also have been blessed by helpful content including what is going on in my local area, practical blog posts, and encouragement from others who are in similar circumstances to me. It comes with pros and cons. But it’s how I choose to respond to the challenges as well as the opportunities. The answer is: plenty of grace supplied lavishly from the Lord.

Times are changing, yet our time is in the Lord’s hand. Having cancer twice, I have spent a lot of time thinking about time. Length of time. How to spend that time. When time eventually runs out for me here. And the time beyond. How we use that time is important because it is time that we will not get back. Someone who recently lost a close family member suddenly said to me to ditch the stuff that’s not important. That is also a call to take up the stuff that is important.

Perspective matters. Life matters. Eternity matters.

We are living in a time of uncertainty. Nothing in life is in fact certain (except death and taxes as the saying goes). Yet, there is a certain hope that we can have as an anchor for the soul. In these times of change, whether technological, political, international and everything else, we can move forward with certainty knowing that we are one day closer to meeting Jesus face-to-face.

For believers, this can be both a comfort and a concern. We should be like watchmen, guarding the truth entrusted to us as we wait expectantly for God to call us home, or for Him to come in glory. It is a comfort that we will one day be in the presence of our Creator, our Saviour and our Lord. Are we ready and anticipating the return of Christ? Are we living for Him alone?

We may be concerned about our mortality. We may be busy doing what pleases us and God is an afterthought, or perhaps no thought at all. But today, whoever you are, don’t harden your heart. Hear and believe that Jesus came to save sinners, to reconcile us to God, and will bring a new heaven and earth, redeeming all that sin and death unravelled. We can know this because He rose from the dead and is alive today. We can read the Bible and see how it all points to the glorious love of God towards sinners. Stories from around the world, from different tribes and tongues, of lives transformed by the grace and power of Jesus, reveal a glimmer of His Kingdom on earth today.

It’s time to take stock and live to the glory and honour of His name, whether we are on social media or not.