King Solomon's Rules for Social Media

From the wisest man of all time - Solomon's Twitter Guidelines ( via Kevin DeYoung). And BTW, these also apply to Facebook and other social media sites!

Twitter can be great. I often find good articles, good lines, and good laughs during my daily Twitter scroll. But Twitter—like any other social media outlet—can be a cesspool of vanity and vice.

I’ve probably broken these rules more than I realize, but here’s how I think about what I should and shouldn’t tweet. A big shout out to King Solomon for his help is putting these 25 guidelines together.

1. Think before you tweet, and don’t be afraid to just delete. There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing (Prov. 12:18)

2. It’s okay to unfollow some people, block them, or ignore them. Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge (Prov. 14:7)

3. Turn the volume down from 11. Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly (Prov. 14:29).

4. Don’t make things worse. A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but he who is slow to anger quiets contention (15:18).

5. Their platform is pointless if it makes an end run around humility. The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor (Prov. 15:33).

6. There is nothing impressive about being a hothead. Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city (Prov. 16:32).

7. Make good news public, and keep bad news as private as possible. Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends (Prov. 17:9).

8. Most Twitter brawls are a waste of time. A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool (Prov. 17:10).

9. Don’t mess around with trolls. Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly (Prov. 17:12).

10. Seriously, don’t get into fights on Twitter. The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so quit before the quarrel breaks out (Prov. 17:14).

11. Just because you think it, doesn’t mean you have to say it. Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise; when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent (Prov. 17:28).

12. Get the facts first. If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame (Prov. 18:13).

13. Don’t rush to get your hot take out there as soon as possible. The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him (Prov. 18:17).

Get On-Line...But Don't Be A Jerk About It

10 Tips for Christian Leaders Who Don’t Want To Become Self Promoting Jerks Online - By Mark Sayers

Social Networking can be a fabulous tool for leaders to advance the kingdom. However like so many other things it can also lead us into dangerous territory if unexamined.

Below are some tips on how to use social networking well in our celebrity obsessed, image based culture without falling into the sin of pride. I have probably broken several at times, but hopefully they will be of help to you.

1) Avoid being a fame-vampire. Just because you had coffee with someone well known doesn’t mean that you have to tweet about it. We tend to do this because sub-consciously believe that if we broadcast the fact that we are associating with someone well known, that their fame/influence will rub off on us.

Would you be willing to tweet that you just met with a person who had no influence or social capital?

2) Don’t add to the Hubbub. We live in a culture of incredible distraction. Just because we can broadcast to thousands the first thought that comes into our head doesn’t mean that we have to. Just communicate the important stuff.

By refraining from the cacophony you just might give others space and silence. Is your broadcasting of the mundane robbing others of the silence they need to encounter God?

3) Real life Followers>Online followers.

4) Platform never beats spiritual authority. Lot of people talk about platform these days. Platform sells books, generates hits and followers and results in speaking requests. However platform doesn’t always equate with spiritual authority.

You can have a massive platform with little spiritual authority, and you can have significant spiritual authority and a terrible Klout score.

5) Promote resources not yourself. Beware the thin line between selling books, resources, events, Churches, others you wish to champion, ministries you believe in and selling yourself.
Do your social networking patterns push people towards resources that will build up their faiths, or are you allowing some of the glory to bounce off onto you?

6) Avoid humblebrags. Don’t ever use the hashtag #humbled. My friend Amy said to me the other day that if someone uses the hashtag #humbled there is a 90% chance they are bragging.
We know deep down that social networking naturally tilts towards self promotion, so we try and self promote whilst trying to be humble, check out the humblebrag feed on twitter to see why this approach doesn’t work.

7)Ask the dangerous question ‘why?’ Before posting always ask yourself ‘why am I posting this instagram pic/tweet/status update?’ Deeply search your heart for your true motivations. If you struggle with this find a social networking accountability buddy who will ask you the tough questions.

8) Take breaks. Take regular technology sabbaths. This is one of the best ways to ensure that you keep social networking as a tool rather than an idol.

9) Be Patient with God. God will advance your ministry if he so desires in His good time. Just because we live in a time where it is easy to push our own carts does not mean that we need to. Both the bible and history is littered with the tragic tales of people whose influence exceeded their spiritual development.

10) Track your time. Keep a track of how much time you are devoting to social networking. Not just in real minutes and hours but also in mental energy. Do you find yourself thinking about what you could say online when you are even off line? Are you robbing your family, friends and neighbours of your complete presence and attention? Sit down and plan how much time you wish to spend a week online and stick to it.

10 Commandments for Social Media

Kevin DeYoung posted these "Ten Commandments for Twitter."  I'd say they apply to blogs and Facebook also. Enjoy!

And the Lord of Twitter spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your God, who gave thee computers and tablets and smartphones, the Holy One of all social media who foreknew the internet before the foundation of the earth, yea even before Al Gore was born:

Thou shalt worship others gods before Twitter. Take heed lest ye waste your life 140 characters at a time. What shall it profit a man if he has 100,000 followers and forgets what it means to follow me?

Thou shalt not assume the worst about the tweets of others. Careful qualifications and robust explanations are not to be expected in two sentences. Cuttest thine enemies some slack.Kevin DeYoung posted these 10 Commandments for Twitter. I'd say they apply to blogs and Faceboo

Thou shalt not take the name of thine own person too seriously. If thou art prone to feeling offended at every turn and to feeling sorry for thyself publically before others, I beseech thee to gettest thou over it. To tweet like an eight-year-old is an abomination before me.

Remember thine hyperlinks, to keep them holy. Three things are a nuisance to others, four things are always to be avoided: broken links, trashy videos, rickrolling, and linking to thine own article 17 times in the same day.

Honor thy father and thy mother and all others to whom honor is due. Let thy tweets be full of encouragement and praise. Find what is commendable and commend it before others. Forgettest not that athletes and politicians are real people too. And rememberest thou that thy parents and pastors can read thy tweets.

Thou shalt not humblebrag. Better to be humble and say nothing or to brag and say everything, than to fool no one but thine own conscience.

Thou shalt not disguise self-congratulation in the form of lamentation. If thou shouldst mention before a multitude, and with conspicuous disappointment, that thou wast the only one white person who entered a float for Nelson Mandela Appreciation Day or that it breakest thine heart to think about the church’s responsibility for the Crusades, small shall be thy reward in heaven.

Thou shalt not make public demands of complete strangers. Calling upon others to respond to thy blog or denounce the evil thou refusest to put to rest is like unto social media terrorism. It is a constant dripping on a day of steady rain.

Thou shalt not retweet thine own awesomeness. The decree to “Let another praise you, and not thine own mouth” shall not be loosed all thy days. It is a perpetual statute, even unto the age of Twitter. Let it be a light unto thy path, to guard thy head from swelling and thy friends from cringing.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s klout; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s retweets, or his followers, or his hip Instagram photos, or his travel complaints, or his mentions, or anything belonging to thy neighbor.

Outrageous Mercy

Jonathan Martin (@RenovatusPastor) was rockin' it on Twitter this Sunday:

If the "wrong" people enter the kingdom ahead of us, our worst fear comes true: our hard work to be good didn't make us better than anyone!

When we stop being outraged at God's mercy toward anyone else & are only incredulous at our own salvation-grace has finally pierced us.

But grace is elusive-the moment you "grasp" it, it slips away from us; & the next day we will need to be shocked by it all over again.

The scandal that most kept people from the kingdom in the gospels was the indiscriminate nature of God's mercy. Those were the days, huh?

Jesus' table fellowship was the central scandal of His ministry. If it's not the scandal of our own, we aren't serious about Christlikeness.

Papal Tweeting

The Pope is now on Twitter - @Pontifix.  I'm sure our Catholic friends will rejoice at the number of evangelicals now following the Pope!

Canonical Bands

Okay, this really appeals to my warped sense of humor! From the Twitter feed #CannonicalBands - A mixing of Bible characters with names of pop & rock bands. Funny stuff!

Corinthian Clearwater Revival
Second Peter, Paul and Mary
The Rolled-Away Stones
Hebrews Springsteen
Malachicago
Matthuey Lewis and the News, one of the Fore! gospel bands
Simon and Peterfunkel
Hosea and the Blowfish
Frankie Valli & the 2 Samuels
Lazarus and the Grateful Dead.
Emerson, Luke and Pauline
The Deuteronobie Brothers
Second Kings of Leon
Guns and Romans
The Jonah Brothers
Earth, Wind, and Sheol
3 wise night
Pearl James
Philemonatwork
U2 Timothy
MaccaBee Gees
Habakuk Street Boys
Metallicanaan
Cold Pray

And the best of all:

Led Zephaniah

Twitter Gleanings

Gleanings from my Twitter feed:

If you live for the approval of others, you'll die with their rejection.@RickWarren

RT @LifeVerse: If you give beyond your ability, God will bless you beyond your ability. Mark Batterson

RT @bcloritts  "Holiness hardly ever becomes a reality until we care more about Jesus than about holiness"- Steve Brown, A Scandalous Freedom

RT @jeffredding: Primary goal of spiritual leadership: Take people from where try are now to where God wants them to be.

RT @LifeVerse: Divine detours often get us where God wants us to go. Mark Batterson

RT @StephenMiller: We are all always worshiping something or someone. And we will become like what we worship.

RT @PastorTullian: God is in the business of replacing our ladders with his cross.

RT @TimTebow "Happy moments, praise God. Difficult moments, seek God. Quiet moments, worship God. Painful moments, trust God. Every moment, THANK GOD."

RT @parkerwindle: "The mark of a great church is not its seating capacity, but its sending capacity." Mike Stachura

RT @rayortlund: Gospel doctrine + gospel culture = a church marked by human beauty. Makes the truth believable, accessible.

RT @BryanPickering: The cross is the best and quickest summary of what God says to unworthy people. - Ed Welch @ccef

Twitter Updates

Haven't done one of these in a while, so, without further delay, here's some Twitter highlights.

RT @LifeVerse: Without God's Word as a lens, the world warps. Ann Voskamp

RT @DailyKeller: Our bad things turn out for good. Our good things can never be lost. And the best things are yet to come. 

RT @MarloTWells: To love means loving the unlovable. To forgive means pardoning the unpardonable.~GK Chesterton

 RT @PastorTullian: Whatever we may mean by “Christian growth,” it is ultimately this: less faith in me, more faith in God.

 RT @Calvary__Tweets: "God sends no one away empty - except those who are full of themselves." - D.L. Moody

 RT @RealEricGeiger: Worship gatherings rooted in the gospel are not always spectacular, but they are always supernatural. #CreatureoftheWord

RT @thepearlyg8s: God doesn't care what you have, so long as He has you!  

RT @daneortlund: What old resentment are you coddling instead of bathing in the gospel? (God's forgiven YOU for crying out loud!)

 RT @LeeSmith_1: The beginning of love for [others] is learning to listen to them. Bonhoeffer

 RT @theResurgence: “Grace is given to heal the spiritually sick, not to decorate spiritual heroes.” – Martin Luther

 RT @leebezotte: "we never pray for folks we gossip about, and we never gossip about the folk for whom we pray!" - Leonard Ravenhill

Twitter Harvests

RT @PastorMark: “A saint is not someone who is good but who experiences the goodness of God.” –Thomas Merton

 RT @DailyKeller The Christian gospel is that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me.

 RT @theidshift: Because of Jesus we don’t have to be afraid to die, and we don’t have to be afraid to live.

 I wrap up this work day moved to tears over Scripture. Only 1 book can hold our fascination for decades. Only 1 glorious word-breathing God. @BethMooreLPM

RT @bcloritts: Some people come in your life as blessings, others come as lessons.

Sometimes people come into your life as a blessings ... and some come into your life as lessons @Self24

 RT @PastorTullian: The very thing that makes a Christian—namely, the Gospel—is the same thing that grows a Christian. http://bit.ly/P31hip

RT @JeffersonBethke: When you realize your acceptance is because of Someone else's achievement you are free to fail.


RT @PassionNetwork: You will never forgive anyone more than God has forgiven you

Jesus doesn’t come like the false god-men of this age and say, “bow to me!” Jesus comes as the true God-Man and says, “dance with me.”  @BrianZahnd

Twitter Highlights

More highlights from my Twitter feed:

Jesus gave us the incredible gift of freedom through his work on the cross. Don't use his gift to keep on breaking his heart with your sin.RT @StephenMiller

RT @jeffredding: Teach the next generation to wash their hearts w the word Instead of their mouths w soap. Luke11:41

 RT @jeffredding: Reputation is who people 'think' you are. Character is who God 'knows' you are. Luke11:42-52

RT @PassionNetwork: Father, change my perspective; that I might see the world through YOUR EYES

RT @LeadingTheWay: The cross is as powerful today as it was on Resurrection Sunday.

 When you forgive someone that doesn't deserve it, who hasn't even acknowledged a wrong; you mirror what Jesus has done for you. #L3living RT @jeffredding

RT @rayortlund: "But God, who comforts the downcast ..." (2 Corinthians 7:6). He doesn't despise the downcast. He comforts them

How many times has Jesus said of me, as he said to the Emmaus disciples, "How dull you are!" (Luke 24:25) . .  RT @lensweet

RT @ChristianRep: Forgiveness doesn't make the other person right, it makes you free. - Stormie Omartian

 RT @PastorMark: You cannot get the Scriptures in you unless you are in the Scriptures.

Twitter Highlights

Highlights from my Twitter feed:

RT @RickWarren: You were made BY God and FOR God. Until you understand that, life will never make sense.

RT @anthonycraver: Live your life with such action and passion that no one else will be able to define you. You will have defined yourself.

I get to worship God this morning because of his faithfulness to me- not because of my faithfulness to him. RT @KimTchvidjian

RT @PassionNetwork: If you have prayed 1000 times and your prayer is not yet answered ... Pray again - God isn't turned away

RT @JeffersonBethke: No sin can run faster than the grace of God. However far we go out, Grace always goes one step further.

“@mguest31: “@gerdi111: If you want to live in the past, go back all the way to the cross.”

"God has not forgiven us merely for our own benefit. God has broken the cycle of vengeance and expects us to do the same." @lensweet

RT @PastorTullian: The gospel doxologically declares that I don’t need to save myself, defend myself, justify myself, or fix myself.

RT @RickWarren: Jesus doesnt love you because you're good.He loves you because He's good.

Weekly Twitter Update

RT @wakeupmyfaith: If you want to move a mountain you must first set up base camp in your prayer closet

 RT @aubreynb: “We fear men so much, because we fear God so little. One fear cures another.” G.K. Chesterton

RT @PassionNetwork: There is no Broken Heart that God can't fix

RT @RevKevDeYoung: Don't be afraid to remind people of what you know they already know. We all leak the gospel.

 RT @erwinmcmanus "Love like a poet. Live like a warrior. Learn like an apprentice. Lead like a servant."

 RT @jameschoung: When you go into a community, ask: what would the Kingdom of God look like if it came here?

 Here's a bad prediction: "After I've been dead five years no one will read anything I have written." - CS Lewis / Glad it didn't come true!

RT @JustinBuzzard: What defines your life is not your imperfect past, but Christ's perfect past.

"We all agreed that forgiveness is a beautiful idea until we have to practice it."-- CSLewis (@CSLewisU)

Tweets of the Week

RT @DailyKeller: The world values power, comfort, success, & recognition. Jesus frees us to value grief, sacrifice, weakness, & exclusion.


"We carry an insidious prosperity gospel around in our dark, little, entitled hearts." —Matt Chandler


"Let him who cannot be alone beware of community / Let him who is not in community beware of being alone." -Bonhoeffer


RT @challies: "If Solomon was still around, he'd pretty much dominate Twitter." / Proverbial Truth!


RT @PastorTullian: Legalism says God will love us if we change. The gospel says God will change us because He loves us.


RT @daneortlund: What would Jesus tweet? 'It is finished.' Every day, every hour. Over and over. And I'd retweet it every time!


"To forgive is to be like God; to withhold forgiveness is to be like the world." - RT @bcloritts

RT @JamieTheVWM: The best thing you can do for someone who believes they're worthless is treat them like they're not.


RT @PastorTullian: There's nothing that screams fear and unbelief like the censorship of grace.


Envy asks “Why them? Why do they get what I don’t have?” Gratitude asks “Why me? Why do I get all that I have?” RT @RickWarren

"A successful marriage requires falling in love many times, and always with the same person. - Mignon McLaughlin"

Weekly Twitter Update

Weekly Twitter Update:

RT @ARP_CEM: Sometimes reading God's Word is like pouring alcohol on a wound. It hurts in order to heal.

 RT @DailyKeller: The more we see ourselves as needing forgiveness, the more likely we are to forgive others.

RT @PassionNetwork: 'Pray and let God worry.' Martin Luther

RT @lensweet: The highest compliment you can pay a Christian: "Jesus is big in you."

RT @Komanapalli: You will never have to forgive anybody else more than God has forgiven you.

RT @darrinpatrick: “Worry is not believing God will get it right, and bitterness is believing God got it wrong." Tim Keller

RT @douglaswils: There is a difference between going through the Bible, like a tourist, and the Bible going through you, like a spear.

 RT @darrinpatrick: Let your anger fantasies lead you to prayer which will enable you to forgive

 RT @renovatuspastor: God can use your wounds for the healing of others even when your own wounds are not yet fully healed.

 RT @PassionNetwork: It is such a relief to know that a perfect God can use imperfect people

Don't Believe Everything You Read on the Internet!

There is a quote supposedly from C.S. Lewis currently circulating on Facebook, Twitter and some blogs that says ”You do not have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”

When I saw the quote, my first thought was that it did not sound like C.S. Lewis at all. My second thought was that it's not Biblically accurate, no matter who said it. The Bible looks at human beings as unified souls and bodies, and to be without the body is to be unclothed (see 2 Corinthians 5:1-5). Hence, God's promise of new resurrection bodies.

Saw today confirmation that this quote is not from Lewis at all, but from George MacDonald. See Mere Orthodoxy and Justin Taylor for more details and proof.

Oh, and Francis of Assisi also never said “Preach the gospel; use words if necessary." Totally apocryphal.

This shows that you can't trust everything that you read on the Internet. As Abraham Lincoln said (and he would know) "The problem with quotes on the Internet is you can never be sure the guy didn't just make it up!" 

Abridged Version

Fascinating! The entire Epistle to the Galatians summarized in 30 Tweets!

  

Monday Twitter Update

From my Twitter feed last week:

RT @renovatuspastor: Greater revelation of the love of God is always correlative to a greater revelation of my own brokenness.

RT @PassionNetwork: There's nothing more cutting edge than God - always at the forefront of innovation and imagination

Nothing smells worse than pride. Nothing smells better than grace. Good thing there's grace for stinky people like me. RT @JustinBuzzard

RT @PassionNetwork: Never, ever, ever, ever believe you will amount to nothing. In God you are already a somebody with HUGE potential

"Busyness-the blasphemous anxiety of doing God's work for him" Hilary of Tours RT @DarrinPatrick

RT @PassionNetwork: God may choose to showcase His power on the stage of your weakness.

When you mess up badly, God sees it as a good starting point for connecting again...RT @PassionNetworkRT 

@renovatuspastor: Open frailty attracts the presence of God and brings healing to others. Don't conceal yours.

Monday Twitter Gleanings

From my Twitter Feed:

RT @MichaelMinot: Theres a reason someone you haven't seen for months or even years still crosses your mind. God wants you to pray for them!

RT @yancyeaton: “The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”
Worry does not take away tomorrow's troubles. It takes away today's peace. Trust God. RT @PassionNetwork

RT @adamcates: The Kingdom of Heaven is all upside down...the Deader the Better.

I'm claiming Psalm 92:14 (Now you have to read it to see what I mean) @bg_simmons

RT @_MichaelKelly "Grace and peace." No wonder Paul opens his letters like this. It's the two word summation of the gospel: http://ow.ly/bJiP4

Holiness is not about getting better at keeping divine commandments, but about getting better at enjoying God & pleasing God. @LenSweet

Holding on to resentment is like grasping a hot coal with intent to hurl it at someone else, but you are the one who gets burned! @bg_simmons 

"You see, sometimes we don’t know that Jesus is all we need until Jesus is all we’ve got." - Wayne Cordeiro

Twitter Highlights

Recent highlights from my Twiiter feed:

Don’t say ‘Our Father’ on Sundays and spend the rest of the week acting like an orphan RT @PassionNetwork

Jesus is the vine; we the branches. Remember, you aren't feeding the root; the root is feeding you. #blessed RT @PassionNetwork

 Every new day with Jesus is filled with possibility! Anything can happen, even the miraculous #beready RT @PassionNetwork

"Pain is inevitable. Misery is not." RT @WayneCordeiro 

"Never give up. At your lowest moment, God might be preparing you for the greatest thing you'll ever do." #ChuckColson RT @ColsonCenter 

Lord Jesus, I am blind, be thou my light; ignorant, be thou my wisdom; self-willed, be thou my mind. -- Puritan prayer RT @LeeStrobel

If life is really tough, God may be preparing you to be one of His toughest soldiers when the battle is fiercest RT @PassionNetwork

There is a lot of comfort in knowing that Jesus loves messed up people. RT @StephenMiller

Satan says you'll never get beyond your past. Jesus says your future is beyond your wildest dreams no matter your past. RT@MichaelMinot

“Because Jesus never quits working, I can Because Jesus never vacations, I can Because Jesus never sleeps, I can” RT@johnwbryson

If you hear the gospel and think "I already know this" then you don't know the gospel. RT @theidshift

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