For more information about Amp'd Youth Ministries and Mount Airy Bible Church visit our website www.youth.mabcmd.org or Facebook. Enjoy!
Last week in youth
group, after the overly-confident Leaders were brutally defeated by the Youth,
in a game of Family Feud, Ben Colvard continued our How To... series by
teaching about "How to Use Social Media". He encouraged us to really
think about what we post online and how we present ourselves to others on
social media sites. He challenged us to use these "weapons of
distraction" as means of evangelizing.
Have you ever thought
about how often we use social media? Just in the last 24 hours, I took a
picture with my phone and emailed it to a friend, "Skyped" my parents
who live in Turkey, repinned a recipe on Pinterest, read the news on the
Internet, and shared a verse on Facebook. I have to admit, whether I like it or
not, social media has become an inseparable part of my life. I have been
blessed with the opportunity to use these resources which help me stay in touch
with my friends and family half way around the world, at the same time, connect
with millions of people that I normally wouldn't be able to meet face to face
and learn from them.
Last week, Facebook
reached a billion users-- that's 1 of every 7 people in the world. With its
population increasing by day, it is becoming a near-essential tool for
families, businesses, and churches. How can we use this powerful tool to
our advantage? 1 Corinthians 10:31 says "...whatever you
do, do it all for the glory of God." How can we use Facebook to bring
glory to God? One of Facebook's benefits for us as believers is that it
lets us stay connected to each other even though we are at different stages of
life, in different circle of friends, or even different parts of the world. Among
other things, it enhances our relationships within the body of Christ; it helps
us encourage each other, it makes us laugh at each other's jokes, it
reminds us to pray for whoever needs prayer, it gets us singing the same songs.
It also opens a door to our unsaved friends who might be intimidated to ask us
about our faith. But after seeing our uplifting posts they might feel safer to
approach us to find out about the source of our joy.
The ways Facebook can
help us minister to others is endless. Let’s use this weapon of
distraction as a challenge to spread the good news, instead of adding one more
picture of food, one more video of kittens, or one more personal-to-do list to
the endless chatter. Ephesians 4:29 commands us to "…not let any
unwholesome talk come out of our mouths, but only what is helpful for building
others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who
listen." Today, let’s take a moment to think about how we can steer
each other toward God by our behavior online.
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