This is a guest post by Nathan White. For more info on guest posting on Christian Web Trends see Be a Guest Blogger.
For Christians, It’s Not “Just” A Text Message
Are your text messages risking lives or saving them?
It often feels like the whole world, including Christians, is obsessed with texting.
Text messaging is not only an integral part of our society, but is also part of our very fiber, our fabric and our collective DNA.
If you doubt that, just take a look around you.
Everywhere you go, everywhere you look, people are texting.
- In the classroom
- At the mall
- Walking in the park
- While eating at the dinner table
- During the Sunday sermon
- In the public restroom
Okay, maybe that’s too much information. But I think you get the point.
As a society, our texting habits range from the habitual, to the obsessive, to the distasteful, to the downright dangerous – like texting while driving.
And one of the really sad things is that many of the people with life-threatening texting habits are Christians. Call me “old school”, but I believe that as Christians, we can and should be, better than that.
We shouldn’t be doing highly irresponsible things such as texting while driving. That endangers lives. We’re supposed to help enhance lives. Right?
One of our missions as Christians is, or at least should be, to help people live better lives. Check out that all important word — live!
Ecclesiastes 3:1 says “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”
So I believe that there is a time, place and purpose for texting. It’s an incredibly powerful and useful form of communication.
Proverbs 18:21 says “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.”
With that in mind, we should really be much more responsible than we currently are with our text messages.
Not only should we text at appropriate times (unlike those who text while driving), but we should also be responsible with what we are actually saying in our text messages.
Whether you realized it before this moment or not…
Your text messages are not just text messages. You have the power to change lives with them!
In fact, just ONE of your text messages can help change your life or someone else’s life, either in a very positive way — or in a very negative way.
Believe it. It’s true. It’s the 100%, Honest to Godness truth!
Most of us don’t realize the immense power that we have in our simple, ordinary, everyday text messages. But it is there. And it is real.
A simple message that YOU send can be the difference between someone, somewhere, in this great, big, world either feeling like life is worth living – or deciding that it’s not.
You can send messages that fill people with love, hope, joy, energy, peace and more – much more. Let me rephrase that. We can do this. We just need to open our eyes, hearts and minds to what is, in some ways, “hiding” right in front of us.
To the rest of the world:
- It might just be something to do
- It might just be something to send
- It might just be something to say
- It might even just be a way to pass the time away
The question is, do you think that it’s “just” a text message?
Nathan White is a Pastor’s kid (“PK”), marketer and entrepreneur. Known as “The Minister of Marketing”, he uses his writings to assist him on his mission of H.O.P.E. (Helping Other People Excel). Nathan is the author of several books, including, “The Holy Texting Bible” and “The Ten Texting Commandments”. He is also the founder of honesttogodness.com
3 Comments
Hey Nate, great article! I totally agree text messages can have a big impact on other people’s lives anytime, but especially when people are feeling isolated and anxious during the COVID-19 pandemic. I’m definitely trying to be intentional about encouraging friends and family through texts.
no i dont agre , that as a society, our texting habits range from the habitual, to the obsessive,
soma marginal behavior like texting while driving may happend but still it is a margin, not regular behavior