Media Outreach

I was playing paintball a few years ago. There was a shed that we were supposed to protect. I was hiding behind the door as someone on the other team came through. I told him to surrender or get painted. He turned, put his hands in the air. Looking at his eyes, I knew there was another guy on his team just outside. So after my prisoner got out of the way, I turned my gun around the door and fired a couple of rounds outside the door. Then I felt it. He shot me right in the arm at point blank range. It hurt bad. And I did not respond in a really gracious and Godly way. It left a welt. A huge, ugly, black and blue welt. And this story has a lot to do with social media and online content.

When we put ourselves out there and open up comments and open all lines of communication, we are going to get shot occasionally. With words, people will put a welt on us. There will be those words that we might deserve and will help us and bring us to growth and maturity. There will be other words that will not be deserved and will do some damage. We can’t control what comes at us and what effect it will have on us. I couldn’t stop that paint ball. I couldn’t see it coming. But when it hit, I absorbed it completely. That next moment was the part I could control. And I failed miserably.

Here is the point of all this. The more information we put out there, and the more channels of feedback we open up, the more feedback we will receive. Hopefully it will all be great. But it might not. We ultimately are responsible for what happens next. In a faith based community, our response must match the Biblical models. Let our words be seasoned with grace. Speak the truth in love. Let no unwholesome communication come out of our mouth. Talk directly to the person we have an issue with. We can’t expect people who comment or communicate with us to follow Biblical patterns, but ultimately we should respond the way we know we are supposed to, even if we got a welt we didn’t deserve.

pic by magoexperto