The First Speaker

HT: Paul David Tripp

I'm sure you've heard this idiom before: "talk is cheap."

Whoever came up with that saying was onto something, just like the person who came up with the phrase "actions speak louder than words" - it's much easier to talk about something than it is to actually follow through with it.

While these expressions may hold weight in the real world, I don't particularly appreciate them, and here's why: they're fundamentally unbiblical because they devalue the significance of our words....

Read more at the link.

Use Wisely

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HT: @ChristineCaine

A Heavy Responibility

"You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say."

               - Martin Luther

On Temptations to Sin Via Social Media

Found a great post by Julian Freeman - Social Media and Temptations to Sin   - the kind of post that makes me say Ouch! He begins with:

Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, the list is endless and growing. The options and opportunities for engaging in online social media are legion. To be sure, as Tim Challies points out in The Next Story, technology is not in and of itself either good or bad. Christians must engage deliberately and discerningly in an effort to redeem the opportunities afforded by living in the age we do.

It must be stressed again, however, that this engagement must be thoughtful. If we say, 'I just like it' and then go full-steam, headlong into the world of facebook, twitter, or whatever, we will be setting ourselves up for disaster.

Here are just a few of the immediate temptations we need to be aware of that come hand-in-hand with participation in social media...

Much good stuff in the post about confusing words with action and the problem of empty speech (read it at the link) - but then he closes with this:

..Much of what happens in the social media world is measured by some kind of 'analytics.' Friends in Facebook, followers in Twitter, subscribers in the blog-world, etc. It is tempting to measure our success by how many people 'like' what we write or 'retweet' what we post. We can find value in having people follow us, becoming our 'online disciples' of sorts.
But consider Jesus's description of the Pharisees who set themselves up as teachers:

They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Matt 23:5-12)

 Ouch! If he had also quoted James 3:1, I'd really have to say ouch!

Facebook Scriptures

A selection of Scripture verses on the subject of words and speech, paraphrased for the internet age.

For out of the abundance of the heart, a person Facebooks.  (Luke 6:45)

Gracious blog posts are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. (Proverbs 16:24)

A word fitly posted on Facebook is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. (Proverbs 25:11)

The posts of a wise man's blog win him favor, but the blogings of a fool consume him. (Ecclesiastes 10:12)

Let your internet postings always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Colossians 4:6)

Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound internet posts that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. (Titus 2:7-8)

For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he posts on the internet, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. (James 3:2)