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Thus, many believers use truth as a license to righteously diminish others’ reputations.”12 What is done in the name of “exposing truth,” with the single goal of undermining someone’s character, is an expression of slander.
The act of exposing dirt on someone rarely stops with whistle-blowing and exposé, but typically moves quite naturally into a collective vendetta that leverages mass online outrage to see documentable harm done to the wrongdoer.
“a charitable esteem of our neighbors; loving, desiring, and rejoicing in their good name; sorrowing for, and covering of their infirmities; freely acknowledging of their gifts and graces, defending of their innocence; a ready receiving of a good report, and unwillingness to admit of an evil report, concerning them; discouraging talebearers, flatterers, and slanderers.”
“The easiest work in the world is to find fault.”
“Self-restraint has never been more important.”20 Each of us has an inner troll, an inner slanderer—some part of us that would love to text some dirt to a friend, publish dirt online, and anonymously consume that dirt online.
In Christ, our pardoned sins are plunged into a grave—but the slanderer keeps going at night to exhume his neighbor’s sins in order to drag those decomposing offenses back into the light of the city square.
In situations where we are not called to intervene, we are silent. In situations where we are called, we speak and confront in order to foster repentance in private. In all situations, at all times, as representatives of Christ, we are eager to resolve conflicts and be peacemakers. We aim to “outdo one another in showing honor” (Rom. 12:10). When we find ourselves insulted, we bless; when slandered, we entreat; when verbally persecuted, we endure.34 At all costs, we do not become irreconcilable. We do not become men or women who ignite controversies in the church with no intention of pursuing
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Am I lazy and careless with souls, ignorant of the power of words, images, and links on others? Or am I using my digital chitchat as a way to build into someone (or some online community) with a larger relational goal of edification?
Satan’s “Nothing” strategy aims at feeding us endlessly scrolling words, images, and videos that dull our affections—instead of invigorating our joy and preparing us to give ourselves in love.
Technology makes life easier, but immaturity makes technology self-destructive.
We talk more about God than we talk to him. Our hearts are more interested in following empty patterns of worship than encountering the Spirit.
Our personal freedom from the misuse of technology is measured by our ability to thoughtfully criticize it and to limit what we expect it to do in our lives.
without genuine humility, true confession of sin, and supernatural heart change, we will not be free from the banal distractions and endless cotton candy allurements offline
The key to balancing ourselves in the smartphone age is awareness. Digital technology is most useful to us when we limit its reach into our lives.
Recognize that much of what you respond to quickly can wait. Respond at a later, more convenient time.
Invite your spouse, your friends, and your family members to offer feedback on your phone habits
At strategic moments in life, digitally detox your life and recalibrate your ultimate priorities. Step away from social media for frequent strategic stoppages (each morning), digital Sabbaths (one day offline each week), and digital sabbaticals (two two-week stoppages each year).18
but used with care and discipline, the digital tools are, he said, “a treasure chest of the glories of God.”11
When we use our smartphones rightly, their shining screens radiate with the treasure of God’s glory in Christ, and in that glory-glow, we get a sneak peek into a greater age to come.
Our greatest need in the digital age is to behold the glory of the unseen Christ in the faint blue glow of our pixelated Bibles, by faith.15 But in the new creation, in God’s finished city, we will enjoy the blazing splendor of Christ, by sight.
