Hello again, dear friends. It’s been a while since I’ve shared here, but I’ve had something on my heart that’s been brewing for a few days, and I feel the pressure building to release it.

I recently took a break from social media. Sometimes it’s needed, because the world is screaming loud. Do you take breaks? If not, I would beg you to consider it. The refreshment that comes from the silencing of social media is like a fresh, cool drink.

Not only is it refreshing, but it’s healing for your perspective. You’re reminded that life doesn’t have to be curated for outsiders, it can just be lived and enjoyed. You are also reminded that we have all been led to believe this lie that we need to know everything about everyone, and vice versa.

For the past two years, there is a verse I revisit during these times that aids me in that perspective shift:

“that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you,”
‭‭I Thessalonians‬ ‭4:11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I then take a few days or weeks to try to live it out.

1. Lead a quiet life. I don’t always need to comment. I don’t always need to share my opinion. I can sit in silence and solitude, because it’s the still, small voice that I’m waiting on.

2. Mind my own business. There are a lot of things in life that Jesus didn’t make any of my business, and I don’t need to form an opinion about them.

3. Work with my own hands. What is given to me in this season to do? What am I called to steward well right now?

Social media can be dangerous for the believer. We get caught up in the scroll, and a lot of times we begin to spout opinion, and “bear witness” to things we see on social media and in the news. It is here we tend to get ourselves into dangerous territory.

Recently it was a famous pastor who is taking a break because his personal messages with a woman who wasn’t his wife became “too familiar”. Everyone has an opinion. And I do mean everyone.

Before I go any further, I have to just let you know that this post has nothing to do with what others are doing or accused of doing. It’s about examining ourselves, and the ways we respond to these things. Are we clanging symbols?

I believe our constantly connected world forgets that just because we’re all so “connected” via the internet, that many times we don’t have real relationships with the people we’re forming opinions about.

Are we bearing witness about fruit we can’t get close enough to even see?

There are two warnings I hear from the Lord in this hour:

1.The media is one of the false prophets of our time. Cling tightly, with all you’ve got, to truth. Stand in the counsel of the Lord more than in the counsel of men and media.

2. Do not bear false witness.

FAKE NEWS.

I am very aware that we have heard this term so much we’ve almost become desensitized to it. However, let me share something that hit me like a ton of bricks recently, and has been working my heart over:

“These six things the LORD hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.” Proverbs 6:16-19 NKJV

The Lord HATES…. a false witness that speaks lies. That is super strong language.

Selah.

In studies done on fake news, it is confirmed that lies spread further and faster than truth.

“It seems to be pretty clear [from our study] that false information outperforms true information,” said Soroush Vosoughi, a data scientist at MIT who has studied fake news since 2013 and who led this study. “And that is not just because of bots. It might have something to do with human nature.”

Now, back to that verse in proverbs. We see this warning in scripture because we’re human, and we are prone to sin. God cares enough about us, and the people we may harm with falsities, to warn us and protect them. We have to be careful because the things we say, and type, travel a long way and quickly. Untruths, travel further and faster.

Have you been guilty of bearing false witness?

If I share an article that isn’t truth that diminishes someone’s character, based on secondhand (or even further removed) witness; am I not bearing false witness?

Because I love definitions, here are some for the words false and witness:

FALSE, a. [L. falsus, from fallo, to deceive. See Fall and Fail.]

1. Not true; not conformable to fact; expressing what is contrary to that which exists, is done, said or thought. A false report communicates what is not done or said. A false accusation imputes to a person what he has not done or said. A false witness testifies what is not true. A false opinion is not according to truth or fact. The word is applicable to any subject, physical or moral.

WITNESS, n.

1. Testimony; attestation of a fact or event.

If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. John 5.

2. That which furnishes evidence or proof.

Laban said, this heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Gen 31.

3. A person who knows or sees any thing; one personally present; as, he was witness; he was an eye-witness. 1 Pet 5.

4. One who sees the execution of an instrument, and subscribes it for the purpose of confirming its authenticity b his testimony.

5. One who gives testimony; as, the witnesses in court agreed in all essential facts.

With a witness, effectually; to a great degree; with great force, so as to leave some mark as a testimony behind. He struck with a witness. [Not elegant.]

Do we ever pause when we’re scrolling and say “Lord, is this information truth? What should I do, or not do with this information? What is MY role?”

Do we ever stop when we’re about to share an opinion, and ask ourselves if what we’re about to say is based on firsthand knowledge, or secondhand?

One thing I know from gardening is you can’t tell if the fruit is good until you get up close enough to inspect it.

In many cases, we don’t have the proximity to examine a person’s fruit, but we’re still claiming to know if it’s good or rotten.

I hope that we all will pause and consider our words, both spoken and typed. Our words and our witness matter more than we could possibly imagine.

I heard this quite recently and I have been sitting with it. “If we want to be a friend of the bridegroom, we must learn to tame our tongue.” I don’t know about you, but I desperately want to be a friend of the bridegroom, and I am working daily to tame my tongue and my typing hands.

Sometimes that looks like refraining from stopping by comment sections and withdrawing from social media to live a quiet life and mind my own business.

Other times working to tame my tongue looks like withdrawing from conversations and withholding opinions that seek to bear witness against other people.

I may never be able to fully tame my tongue, but that isn’t an excuse to not try, or to allow it free reign. For every idle word, I will give an account. The older I get, the more weight that holds.

“But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Adonai and Father, and with it we curse people, who are made in the image of God. From the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be. A spring doesn’t pour out fresh and bitter water from the same opening, does it?”
‭‭Jacob (James)‬ ‭3:8-11‬ ‭TLV‬‬