How Social Media Connects Us
Social media typically gets a bad rap. However, by placing healthy boundaries around how and why we use these platforms, we can see social media for what it can be—a light in our dark world!
Let’s look at three ways social media can be used to shine hope and be a light to others.
IT’S ENTERTAINING
Life is hard. Stress from school piles up. Work worries us. Friends and boyfriends make our feelings go haywire. Add in a whopping case of anxiety and/or depression with major news headlines, and one could go mad!
Laughter binds us together with friends in real life. And social media can have the same mentality, lightening the load off our proverbial plate.
What do you laugh at the most on social media? I love receiving GIFs of clips from my favorite TV shows in text messages or watching videos on YouTube of people on those catapult rides where they pass out. And I equally love seeing self-deprecating pictures my friends post of themselves and other friends.
With a short video, post, or tweet, social media can instantly turn a bad day around. (And the opposite can happen as well!) As believers, we must know God is the author of joy. But He’s also the origin of happiness. Throughout Scripture, God laughs. He brought humor and wit into existence. We honor the Lord when our humor, not crass or crude or un-Christlike, makes others smile. We mirror God when we help lighten their burdens, if even for a moment.
As James finishes his book of the Bible, he writes about how we live out our faith in all sorts of different situations. In James 5:13, he said: “Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise.” So the next time something on social media makes you happy, laugh, or smile, praise God for lightening our burdens.
IT LETS US KNOW WE ARE NOT ALONE
GoFundMe pages help cover strangers’ unexpected medical costs. Believers come together to pray over families in tight situations around the world. Conversations about hot topics help everyone navigate sticky situations in our culture. In a world where most of us experience anxiety and loneliness, social media is a sweet way to know we are not alone. TikTok has a way of revealing everyday hacks, funny memes, and relatable moments. I always think, “I’m not alone in this!” Other people can relate to the way my brain thinks and my heart feels. It comforts me to know other people in this world see life from a similar perspective.
Paul starts his second letter to the Corinthian church by saying, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2 Corinthians 1:3–5).
We mirror the heart of God when we use the comfort He’s given us—big or small—to comfort those around us.
IT’S ANOTHER PLACE TO MAKE THE HOPE OF THE CROSS PRESENT
Last but not least, social media is a tool to make the gospel known. Think about all the friends who follow you from school, work, or church. We have more friends on social media than we have the bandwidth to minister to in real life. However, social media is a way to share the love of Christ easily.
You can write a spiritual encouragement from your quiet time, but it doesn’t have to look that way. It can be as simple as encouraging a friend through a DM, commenting with a compliment on someone’s photo, or reaching out through text if a friend posts something sad.
But it also serves as a simple way to share what you believe. Instead of writing a witty or pun-filled caption for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter, write a short reason why you are celebrating that day. Is it for the cross? For the blessings—spiritually and physically—Christ has given you? For the birth of the Savior who came to save you from your sins?
Romans 10:13–15 is clear: “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those
who preach the good news!’”
Declaring the gospel on the interwebs doesn’t check the discipleship box. It is not meant to take the place of telling others about Jesus and teaching them about who He is. However, it can be an engaging way to bring light to others’ darkness. We are called to deliver the gospel—and social media is one of those ways.
Overall, social media is fun. Social media is inviting. Social media is a tool to make Christ known. So let’s use social media as a beacon of hope and a vessel of light to this broken world!
Megan Gover is the executive director of Minted Truth, an online Bible study resource for middle school and high school girls around the world. She and her team desire teen girls to know Christ deeper through Bible studies and resources available on their free Minted Truth app. When she’s not meeting with teen girls at a local coffee shop or dreaming up a new adventure, she enjoys cuddling with her Goldendoodle pup while at home in North Texas. Connect with her on Instagram!