Christian Living

Jesus, social media and us

by jay supetran
08/07/18
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 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.

                                                                               Mark 3:13

Man is a social being and he cannot live alone. He has to belong to a community and to interact with others. The closest to us are our family. Outside our family we relate to our friends, and we usually join a small group where we are accepted. People tend to gravitate towards people with the same age-group, economic status hobbies and interests and even mindset.

The advent of the internet and social media brought about a new community. Any individual can now create a virtual personality or assume a new and contrived personality. Netizens as they are called has transcended physical boundaries and are able to create or join virtual communities with members from almost all parts of the world with internet connections.  

A community is led by an influencer, a person people would like to emulate. Influencers provide inspiration, guidance and can sway people’s opinion and provoke them to act.  People click LIKE buttons on the posts of the influencers they like. The FOLLOW the influencers’ site, subscribe to their posts to keep abreast with the latest updates and posts. Influencers with thousands and even millions of followers earn from the advertisements and endorsements from the site.

Long before the internet, Jesus has already made the world as his platform. He gathered us because, ‘When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd’ (Matthew 9:36). We Follow Him as we Like what He has done in our lives. He became our great Influencer and we became part of the community he has established – the Church.

He was trending then and up to now.

As we are part of His community, we are supposed to become influencers too. When people look at our site and browse on the pages, will they be attracted to Like and Follow us? It would be great when our spiritual sites would have millions of people following us because they have seen Jesus in our sites. A staccato of Likes would follow every time we posts as the fruits of the Holy Spirit are reflected in whatever we say and do.  And of course, the comments section would be full of praises, words of thanksgiving and celebration as people continue to know more about Jesus through us.