“Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 6:1 ESV)
I wonder what it would look like if the Pharisees had a Twitter account. It would probably look a little like this:
Maybe it isn’t so hard to imagine…
There is a fine line between facebragging and giving God-honoring information. I’ve been working through taking the log out of my own eye before attempting to take the specs out of my brothers and sisters.
I started out by making a list of a few rules for determining if it’s God-honoring or facebragging. Then I realized that sounds too much like what a Pharisee would do. In reality it all comes down to my heart. Am I posting stuff in the hopes you’ll wake up to my awesomeness or to somehow praise the Lord and point to Him?
Here is the central question: Do I want to be seen by men or do I want to be a window by which people see the beauty of Jesus?
That is a question that I want to ask myself before I tweet things that tip-toe towards facebragging.
—
By the way that “My new ride” link works.
I should also mention that Twister is a crazy fun way of creating fake tweets like the ones above. To show how much fun you can have:
I’m going to have to learn how to use Twister!
I’m not sure someone your age should be playing Twister
Jerk.
I’m going to have to forget about this website. I am afraid I can have too much fun with it.
I know. I had a blast doing those SmugPharisee tweets.
I sure hope I don’t open a can of worms with that one. But, really, people have never shown much of an interest in talking about Servetus around here.
…
wow
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How did you get this to post in the comments?
I commented, then I edited the comment and it allows you to add URLs for images. No ability to edit the image like you have for posts – at least not at my level of understanding.
Thanks. I just updated it into the article.
For the record, Mike, my tulips are all in the front yard – right where everyone can see them.
So you are one of those aggressive Calvinists, eh?
Greatest.site.ever.
I’ve heard you can do “the twist” very well.
Mike, those tweets are just like real tweets.
We should just have a Twister open forum. Offer a prize for the best fake tweet.
I love that idea
By the way, Mike, since I have taken your good post in an absurd direction, I might point out that I struggle as well with the concept of “facebragging” – the fine line between praising God and calling attention to myself.
As always, excellent post.
Dave,
This post would be funny, if it wasn’t true.
Enjoy the updated post!
[Moderator: This link has been bothering me, so I used my moderator’s magic and changed it around.]
Here’s the link.
Now, let’s see if it works as an image:
I guess the image didn’t work.
But the link does.
It seems that there’s a fine line, if not a bit of an overlap, between self-aggrandizement and self-promotion. I suck at sales, which explains why I’m in manufacturing. But it also means that I suck at administering my own gifts. You can’t minister to someone without convincing them that you have something valuable to offer them. Self-promotion feels to me like self-aggrandizement and I think it is often read that way by others when I try it. However, in order to operate successfully in a world where anyone who is successful self-promotes, one must likewise self-promote. The other option is to sit back and wait on God to open doors for you which feels lazy.
So my question in all of this is: Where do we draw the line?
Jim,
I have a really difficult time with that line. I think a good chunk of the answer has to do with the motivation of our hearts. Do I want to be a window for people to see Jesus or do I simply want to have my name in lights.
For me I try to do minimal self-promotion. I’ll post a link to something I’ve written but I don’t do a ton of work in gathering people to read it. I figure if I love people and serve my readers they’ll eventually bring their friends. If it truly benefits people and it’s worth others reading I think it’ll be read.
I have a book being released on May 1st. One of the vows that I’ve made is that I will not retweet those who are talking about the book (for good or ill). (I’m sure I will have to make occasional exceptions to that). Maybe that’s dumb marketing…but it annoys the dickens out of me when somebody retweets someone quoting them. It’s like saying, “Hey look people are talking about me”. Who cares!?!?!
Love people. Represent Christ. Bend over backwards to serve your community. Let Christ expand your influence when he sees fit.
Each of us are going to draw that line a little differently. I see certain people and think, “he’s all about building his reputation.” But that is a judgment. My job is to judge me and honor God myself.
It is, as Mike said, a hard line to fix firmly.
Honestly, when I saw that picture floating around of you in that lime green dress…err suit, that was the thought that came in my head. “He’s all about building his reputation”.
On a side and serious not. I was talking about something similar with a blogger I greatly respect. He said “if it annoys me, chances are it will annoy other people as well. So I just don’t do it…”. He was talking about various practices on Twitter.
Liberal.
Great post Mike. I now know about another site where I can waste time and put my sarcasm skills to use. 🙂
Yeah, April Fools is coming…