Backspace Is Your Friend

  Like a lot of folks, you're on the internet. You purse the blogs, check in on your group on Facebook and scan the twitter feed. Yet whether you are in cyberspace or in person in the real world, you should be acting like a Christian. So when the moment comes to make a comment on some post what should you do? Here is a handy checklist.

• Ask if you need to say what you are planning to say

Here is a handy verse to consider: Ephesians 4:29 ”Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear”. So if the comment is not wholesome, good for others, on topic, uplifting, and generous to the recipient, then don’t say it.

• Ask why you are saying what you are planning to say

Here is another verse to consider: 2 Timothy 2:24-25 "The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth”. If you are just looking to fight, troll, or put somebody in their place or if your comment is rancorous, venomous or catty, then don’t say it.

• Ask what good will come of what you are planning to say

Here is an important verse to consider: Matthew 7:6 "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces”. If there are already a hundred people that have commented, nobody is listening to you. Why waste your time writing to an audience that is not there? Write something to a single person that will be uplifted instead. If the comment is wasted on the recipient, then don’t say it.

  So maybe, after all this,  then you wrote something. Delete it. If it is that important, you can write it again. Then don’t post it for a while. If it is that important, it’ll be good then too. Then reread it and consider all the ways it could be taken that you didn’t mean. If it is clear and concise, it will be all the better.

 Words have power and consequences (Matthew 12:36-37) Make sure yours are used well!