“Like”
“Retweet”
“Follow”
“#PrayForSomething”
“Someone’s wrong on the internet! I need to rescue them!”
Are you kidding me?
I don’t mean to be cynical, but I worry that social media has clouded our ability to participate in justice. We are all about ‘praying for’ something, or getting clean water to the needy, or feeding children, or ‘one for one’ initiatives…so long as it doesn’t go beyond a Facebook share.
That’s Not Real Action
Can I just shoot straight? Your ‘like’ on an A21 graphic did not help any sex slaves. Instagramming a #prayforparis picture without praying didn’t accomplish much.
Social Justice and Social Media Justice are not the same thing. Social Justice happens in the real world and carries weight. Social media justice happens in likes and rarely accomplishes anything. We have a misconstrued concept of what real justice is. Social media justice happens through favorites, shares, and senseless Facebook rants. Real justice happens through gritty work, real dollars, volunteer hours, time equity.
The lesson here? Keyboard warriors and Facebook theologians have little effect in the real world, if any. Activism doesn’t create movement without action. There are rare occasions where highly influential people share viral movements. Few catch traction for more than a few days. Even fewer see more than a momentary uptick in ‘ownership.’
Just Do Something
Those two words are something something that I am hopeful our generation is beginning to get. God partners with us to see justice take place. His desire is that we ‘do justly.’ This demands action. Justice can’t be a passive desire, it have to be an active pursuit. It is not just a good idea, it is biblical. It’s not in talk, it’s in deed.
I want to challenge you to take 90 seconds to take a personal inventory. What are you doing that is changing the world? What are you doing that is making a difference? What are you doing that actually has weight? Are you just sharing Facebook pictures about the cause, or are you volunteering? Are you sharing a video, or are you donating?
It’s About Baby Steps
There’s a proverb that says ‘the longest journey begins with the first step.’ Justice is a huge issue. It is so easy to get overwhelmed with such large issues. Sex trafficking is a world wide issue. My city is number one in America for it. What the heck could I do? I don’t even life in Paris. I don’t even think I know anyone personally who has had an abortion.
I was talking with someone recently about a pressing justice issue recently who had been a part of discussing it with some influential national leaders. The conclusion? Yea, we know it’s an issue…but we don’t know what steps to take as a church. The thought occurred to me ‘I don’t know what the church as a whole can do, but I bet I can discover three things we can do as a local church to make a difference.
God isn’t asking you to solve sex slavery, or single handedly stop abortion, or find a cure all for racial reconciliation. He is asking you to do something.