Okay, full confession here. I have a twitter account. I'm also highly considering a Pinterest and an Instagram account. I realize that some of you who read this blog may be wondering what those are, and perhaps in the future I'll explain or link to them. But I have a twitter account. I aim to put a thought or two out there each day on it, as well as a link to my (daily) blog entries.
Lots of people, though, frequent twitter a lot more than I do. Just in the last 3 minutes, I've had over 20 new twitter statements come through on my "feed". I follow quite a few different people or interests on there. Some are sports, some are running, some are food, and some are church, ministry, or theology related. Regardless, I get a new alert every time a few more pop up. (Just got 5 more while I typed that sentence.)
One of the remarkable things on twitter is that you can add a hashtag (#) in front of something, and it will sometimes get picked up by others. You do that for a one word summary of something that expresses your thoughts at the moment. It could be a person of interest, an item of interest, or something along those lines. When enough people add it to their feed, twitter updates you to let you know what people are hashtagging, so you know what is trending out there in the world.
We live in a hashtag world, regardless of your awareness of how twitter uses them or not. Every time you see a banner on TV that says "Breaking News", you have a form of the hashtag. Every time something like that crosses your internet provider, you have a form of the hashtag. It's a reminder of what's happening now, of what's popular now, of what people are looking into now.
We live in a hashtag world because we want things right now. And in some respects, that also speaks to our Christian lives. We want to know God is with us right now. We want to know that God forgives us, not at some point in the future, but right now. We want to know that God has an interest in our lives right now. And the amazing thing is, God actually is and does all those things, and right now!
You have forgiveness right now, because of what Jesus has done for you. You have forgiveness right now when you have the washing waters of baptism as part of your history. You have the gift of a relationship with God right now, through that baptism, and through your ongoing faith in what God has done for you in Jesus. You have the gift of eternal life right now, by virtue of your connection to God in Christ Jesus, who lives an eternal life that will never die.
The great thing is, we don't need hashtags to make those things our reality. They are our reality because of what God has done for us, and because those gifts have been given to us. And yet, we need that hashtag frequency of reminder because not a day goes by that we need to be reminded of it. We need that reminder because every day, other hashtags attempt to distract us from God's gifts in Christ Jesus.
Maybe you didn't know it, but you live in a hashtag world, in that you live in a world of right now. God works right now for you, and won't stop. Even if you don't know what a hashtag is, you have the assurance of God's gifts in your life right now! Thanks be to God for that in Jesus!
Lots of people, though, frequent twitter a lot more than I do. Just in the last 3 minutes, I've had over 20 new twitter statements come through on my "feed". I follow quite a few different people or interests on there. Some are sports, some are running, some are food, and some are church, ministry, or theology related. Regardless, I get a new alert every time a few more pop up. (Just got 5 more while I typed that sentence.)
One of the remarkable things on twitter is that you can add a hashtag (#) in front of something, and it will sometimes get picked up by others. You do that for a one word summary of something that expresses your thoughts at the moment. It could be a person of interest, an item of interest, or something along those lines. When enough people add it to their feed, twitter updates you to let you know what people are hashtagging, so you know what is trending out there in the world.
We live in a hashtag world, regardless of your awareness of how twitter uses them or not. Every time you see a banner on TV that says "Breaking News", you have a form of the hashtag. Every time something like that crosses your internet provider, you have a form of the hashtag. It's a reminder of what's happening now, of what's popular now, of what people are looking into now.
We live in a hashtag world because we want things right now. And in some respects, that also speaks to our Christian lives. We want to know God is with us right now. We want to know that God forgives us, not at some point in the future, but right now. We want to know that God has an interest in our lives right now. And the amazing thing is, God actually is and does all those things, and right now!
You have forgiveness right now, because of what Jesus has done for you. You have forgiveness right now when you have the washing waters of baptism as part of your history. You have the gift of a relationship with God right now, through that baptism, and through your ongoing faith in what God has done for you in Jesus. You have the gift of eternal life right now, by virtue of your connection to God in Christ Jesus, who lives an eternal life that will never die.
The great thing is, we don't need hashtags to make those things our reality. They are our reality because of what God has done for us, and because those gifts have been given to us. And yet, we need that hashtag frequency of reminder because not a day goes by that we need to be reminded of it. We need that reminder because every day, other hashtags attempt to distract us from God's gifts in Christ Jesus.
Maybe you didn't know it, but you live in a hashtag world, in that you live in a world of right now. God works right now for you, and won't stop. Even if you don't know what a hashtag is, you have the assurance of God's gifts in your life right now! Thanks be to God for that in Jesus!
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