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Corinthians 13:11 - When I was a child, I spoke like a child; I thought like a
child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish
things.
Technology allows us to share our
thoughts with the world. We can tweet, Facebook, instant message and blog our
opinions about anything to anyone with the touch of a button. In an instant the
whole world can know what we think.
Though there are some positive aspects
about being able to share our thoughts with the world, there are also
negatives. One negative is that sometimes we let our emotions speak before our
brain thinks through what we are going to say. That usually results in us
saying something we should not have said. Another negative is that sometimes we
do not really know what we are talking about, but we keep talking anyway.
Though people may not say anything to us, they think less of us when we go on
and on about something we obviously do not really know much about. All of this
miscommunication creates a mass of data available to anyone with a computer,
even though a lot of it should never have been expressed anyway.
What is the result of all of this miscommunication?
Politicians who spin opinion stories in order keep their poll numbers up, even
when facts say something different. Celebrities who hire press agents to
project personas that do not really exist. Teenagers who get mad at someone and
start a rumor that goes viral in an afternoon ruining reputations and
destroying relationships. We are surrounded by half-truths and falsehoods. It
has become difficult to know who or what to believe.
The prevalence of incorrect information
has caused many people in our nation to value transparency. We are tired of all
the fake stuff and the spin zone. We just want people to look us in the eye and
be honest with us, even if we do not agree with what they are saying. We want
genuine authenticity from our leaders and from those around us with whom we
interact on a regular basis.
A lack of authenticity keeps tension
levels between individuals higher than what is healthy. It makes explosions of
anger and public temper tantrums more common. While our society may accept public
temper tantrums from preschoolers in a grocery store because their parents will
not buy them a candy bar, do we really want it from 35 year olds in the office,
or the fitness center, or the church?
It is time for us to grow up
emotionally. I am reminded of what the Apostle Paul wrote in First Corinthians
13:11, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child; I thought like a child, I
reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put aside childish things.” Paul
reminds us that as we mature emotionally, we should be able to act more mature.
That includes learning how to have transparent relationships without acting
like children. It is possible to be authentic and still leave certain words or
comments unsaid. The whole world does not need to know what we think about
everything in life. Though our culture may have made a mess of all of this,
Christians need to be emotionally and spiritually mature enough to show people
a better way to use technology to interact with those around us.
Lord,
help us be authentic with those around us but also help us to learn when to
share our thoughts and when to keep them to ourselves. Amen.
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This post is an excerpt from the book, The
Heavenly Mundane: Daily Devotions from Ordinary Experiences. Filled with stories of how God spoke in
big ways through small events, the book will encourage people to look for God
in the mundane things of life. Great for both personal use and to give as a
gift to friend, either the print version or the e-book version may be purchased
at this link:
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