TRAPPSTR

The closet and the spur

Posted on 10. Feb, 2010 by Brett in Social Media

Facebook stumbled upon something special when they gave us the status update a few years ago. I remember when it first came out. A box at the top of my Facebook page that simply said, “Brett is ____________.” How weird, I thought.

But Facebook knew that humans love (big surprise here) talking about themselves in front of their friends. Twitter quickly capitalized on facebook’s discovery and launched a service that made talking about yourself in front of your friends its lone function. And (big surprise again) it exploded.

I’ve been right in the middle of the micro-blogging madness. I love it. It’s fun. It gives me something to do when I’m in the bathroom…or at a wedding. And yet

I’m irked.

I’m irked because I think both Facebook and twitter can be nothing more than a way to showcase our awesomeness. Look at what I did, where I went, who I hung out with. And in the Christian world, it turns into a showcase of righteous acts.

“But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.”   – Matthew 6:6

The King James version translates “inner room” as “closet.”

“Go into your closet” Jesus says, as opposed to parading around in the streets so that everyone can hear your fancy prayers. And he says the exact same thing about giving in verse 4 and fasting in verse 18. This was the very thing Jesus got so mad at the Pharisees for. Jesus would rather you practice your loud spirituality in a cramped dark room with ski jackets, musty shoes, and 1980’s baseball cards. Hmmm….

But that’s not why I’m irked.

I’m irked by Hebrews 10:24…

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”

I think Twitter and Facebook are the absolute best platforms at spurring (encouraging) others. But you’re not going to spur anyone to anything holed up in your closet. Encouragement happens out in the open, where people are. When my friend Billy tweets that he’s finished reading 10 books so far in 2010, I know that it’s not to showcase his righteousness. It’s to celebrate a personal victory and to spur on others. And, if my attitude is right, that’s exactly the effect that tweet has on me–a swift bootspur to the buttocks to remind me to stop watching lame reality TV and go read something.

The closet and the spur.

Can the line get blurry? Of course. Will I screw up sometimes, showcasing my righteousness when it would be better kept in the dark? Yep. Would the Pharisees have loved Twitter? Yeah. But I think Jesus would have too.

But there’s grace for me, and you, and our Pharisee non-closet moments.

So put on your cowboy boots and start tweeting. You encourage me more than you know.

What do you think? Do your friends on Twitter/Facebook make you better?

(P.S. – Way back when this blog was just an baby–last August–I wrote an article about Twitter as Mentoring Machine. It’s called “My 100 Twitter Dads.” You might want to check it out.)