Matthew 6:1  “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

I’m guessing that if Twitter were around back in the first century that the Pharisees would have been all set.  I mean who needs a trumpet to announce your giving when you can just update your twitter feed with a picture of you giving to the poor.  Twitter would have been the ultimate tool to shape public perception.  No good deed would go unnoticed.

And maybe that is what bothers me so much when I reach in my pocket to pull out my phone and I begin to type in my latest update.  More often than not I end up putting my phone back because I realize my desire to tweet isn’t always born out of a pure motive.  I want you to see all the good things I have done.  I want you to know that I disciple my kids, that I have gospel conversations with people in the community, that I exercise, that I’m losing weight, that I pray for our missionaries. Perhaps sometimes my motives aren’t bad, I truly have a passion to see people grow in Christ and part of that comes by seeing an example.  But to be honest, more often than not I just want your affirmation. 

Then there are times that I’m not searching for affirmation.  I just had a conversation with someone about something and we left a bit of a disagreement.  So I reach in my pocket and pull out my phone with thumbs ready to type in a quote, re-tweet an authority on the subject, or even lay out a blanket statement that 99% of the twitter world won’t recognize as a backhanded jab at the person with whom I had a disagreement.  Then I pat myself on the back for not blatantly telling someone off directly like a more immature person would do… No I’m sophisticated.  I publish my jabs covertly into the stream of public consciousness (I hope you noted the sarcasm there).

Then there are the times that I don’t use my twitter status in a passive-aggressive way.  I settle instead for plain old aggressive.  When I pull out my phone and with great passion start to type my angst.  Usually this comes out against a company or unnamed person (such as the driver who cut me off in traffic or passed by on the median during a traffic jam).  In a sense I feel like I’m justified in sharing this information with the world since I was the victim of a great injustice (sarcasm there as well).

Thankfully I stop before too much really gets out.  I have never been able to publish so much unfiltered content before and it has taken me a while to realize that not everything is worth publishing.  Here lately thought, I’ve been thinking about forming guidelines on how I use twitter, facebook, my blog etc.

So I came up with 3 basic guidelines for how I want to use the social media publishing platforms at my disposal. I drew them from 1 Timothy 1:5 where Paul charges Timothy to correct those who are in error.

1Timothy 1:5  The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

1. A Pure Heart – Do I have an ulterior motive? Am I publishing this to get affirmation or to jab someone?
2. A Clear Conscience – Am I about to call someone out on the very things I’m guilty of myself?
3. A Sincere Faith – Am I trusting Christ in this moment?

I have a long way to go.  Hopefully when I publish content it will be to build you up in Christ, not to boast in myself or tear down others.  To be sure there is still room in there to weigh in on a debate or share an opinion, but hopefully it will be evident that my thoughts are tempered by love.

Psalm 19:14  Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.