This past Sunday afternoon after our worship services, my family and I were in the process of returning home when we passed a local denomination. In the parking lot of their building, a group of younger people were standing around and talking. My wife and I both noticed it at the same time; they were all dressed in clothing that was unbefitting of Christians (1 Timothy 2:9-10), especially when you consider that they had just left their own worship service! The girls were in tight and extremely short shorts, and the guys were wearing shorts and tank tops! Now, was my first reaction was not to think about how spiritual those young people were, but rather about how worldly they were, and I was disappointed in both their dress and their behavior! Consider: did their dress and behavior show any distinction between themselves and any worldly person driving down the road? Did it denote any change in their spiritual lives? (Note - there would obviously be other doctrinal differences between us and I am NOT equating this denomination with the true kingdom of God).
Many Christians will argue for the right to dress immodestly based on the idea that the Bible does not define specific lengths, but the question I want to pose is this: when you see a woman dressed in a bikini or a man dressed in a tank top (or no shirt), is your first thought about how godly and spiritual they are? Are you immediately impressed with their service to God? Please, take a moment and honestly ask yourself what your first thought is that goes through your mind.
This specific experience caused me to begin to think again about our influence in this world and how even some of what we deem to be the "little things" that we do can either make or break our spiritual influence with our friends in the world. With the obvious rise in the use of social media in the modern world, we need to be particularly careful about our online persona! While we may find some things to be amusing, we need to consider what our "likes" say about us and our spirituality. Most especially, we need to think about what our personal photos say about us!
There have been many instances in which I have seen faithful Christians "share" or "like" an image, saying, or joke on Facebook (or some other social media platform) that was connected to a website or Facebook page whose name contains a swear word or sexual innuendo. While my first thought is to be lenient towards that Christian and to believe that they have not noticed that, does a non-Christian use such leniency? Are non-Christians seeing us as being careful and not participating in such things, or are they seeing us "liking" or "sharing" such things and assuming that it must be ok to do so? Or are they perhaps seeing no difference between our activities and their activities, and wondering why there is no difference?
Unfortunately, there are also many photographs of Christians floating around the social media world in which they are dressed immodestly, are in spiritually compromising locations (such as bars), or are in compromising physical positions that are intended to be "funny." Consider 1 Thessalonians 5:21-23 where Paul writes, "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (KJV) and ask yourself if these types of photographs and actions are doing that? What do your photographs say about your spirituality?
Recently, I read an article that made an excellent point concerning what picture we paint of our children online; we often post pictures of our children in just their diapers (or nothing at all!), in the bath, or in clothing that disrespects them. We often forget that once something is posted online, it is there forever (even if deleted, it can still be found somewhere). Consider Ephesians 6:1-4 and Proverbs 22:6; if we post these types of things about our children, are we truly respecting them?
Let us take that principle a step further; many Christians will even run down their spouse by posting inappropriate stories, inappropriate pictures of their spouse, and even inappropriate pictures of themselves. Does this depict the attitude in Ephesians 5:22-33 that a couple is to have concerning one another? It is "funny" or does it just harm the relationship between you, as well as the influence you have on the world?
It is probably fair to say that every single one of us needs to be more careful in this area. Remember that we do not always know who may be watching us and seeing how we act before they consider becoming a Christian! It takes a lifetime to build a good reputation, but only a moment or a post to ruin it (Ecclesiastes 7:1; 10:1-3; Proverbs 22:1).
