Hot-takes and Righteousness

I’ll tell you one thing I’ve noticed lately—that share button is a little too easy to press. I can zing-by-proxy, mic-drop without much consideration. I get all the instant satisfaction, with none of the hassle of discernment.

So should we just stay silent then? Swear off the share button? Definitely not—that’s just a pendulum swing in the opposite direction, but equally lacking in discernment.

I’m re-retraining myself to start here:

“Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent. Offer right sacrifices, and put your trust in the Lord.” (Psalm‬ ‭4:4-5‬)

My hot-take and righteousness rarely go together. Instead I want to accept God’s invitation to stillness in his presence. To consider slowly. To listen for the voice of the Lord. To confess, grieve, and pursue healing for my own sin. To trust in the Lord.

Then, I can engage people from a place of peace, thoughtfulness, humility, rootedness, and dependence on God’s mercy and grace.

Social media may run on “real-time,” but no one is owed your moment-by-moment reactions. Maybe you’ll still end up sharing that post, quote, or video the next day or the next week. But maybe you won’t.

You may miss the boat as the world moves on to a new conversation or more scathing meme, but perhaps it’s worth the exchange for thinking that is more nuanced, a tone that is more graceful, and a mind that is more in submission to the true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, excellent, praiseworthy (Phil. 4:8) mind of Christ.

P.S. Yes, that is how our street looks this morning. Snow on green leaves and growing (for now) flowers.