Resolution 2 - Humility

Transcribed from our YouTube video:
10 Resolutions for the MediaWise.church - Resolution 2 - Humility

Did you know there are two accepted currencies on social media?

The first is in limited supply. The currency of followers and likes, the currency of popularity. Supposed indicators of wealth and worth, with the unspoken assertion that more followers equals greater importance. 

And in one sense, this is true. More followers does mean increased reach and traction, a greater sphere of influence. But this speaks little to the value of the content, and we forget that.

Instead, social media equates follower counts, shares and likes with worth. Of course right. Anyone with a mass following, must be doing something right. 

Forget that according to botsentinel 25% percent of Twitter accounts are problematic and disruptive, many nothing more than bots.

Forget that one can actually buy followers, by the millions. Sure they are fake, but they create a mirage just long enough to lure the unsuspecting masses.

This is a counterfeit currency, but we incessantly review the balance of our accounts and reflect on our financial standing in these markets. Popularity is a horrible currency.

The second currency, is far more common, pride. It manifests itself in the ungracious tone of discourse prevalent in the comments section, in the name calling, in the labeling. An arrogance in “owning the libs” or “educating the deplorables”. Delighting in describing those whom God loves dearly as “clowns”, or using derogatory terms like “woke”, “social justice warrior”, or “libtard”. 

An arrogance seen far too often in the lives of those who claim Christ, both towards fellow believers and those who don’t know Christ.

This currency is found in abundance, and spent liberally by those on both sides of every debate. This is the conviction that our rightness is of utmost value and every word spent must be budgeted around solidifying or salvaging our pride. 

A pride that doesn’t want to hear alternate views,  is not slow to anger, but is quickly triggered when engaging with these views and those who hold them. 

Rage posts can not be the hallmark of the Media Wise Church. 

Humility insists that we consider other points of view.

Now, this isn’t a loosey-goosey approach to truth. And this is by no means the abandonment of discernment. But the recognition that sometimes being right isn’t the most important thing.

Pride is a horrible currency.

It tragically deceives us into thinking our worth is found in our correctness, and our ability to make sure everyone knows that we are correct. A currency where being wrong by being right is justified.

To err in this regard, is to fall into the trap of pride, severely underestimating our worth.

Wait. Underestimating? How does pride underestimate our worth. Don’t you mean over estimate our worth?


No. Pride underestimates our worth, asserting that our value is only in these counterfeit currencies. 

Pride settles for worth found in the currency of followers and likes - the praise of men, or arrogance and rightness - the praise of self, when your value is much much greater.

Peter gets it right when he says it is the

“genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:7

A genuine faith is a currency that appreciates in value all the way to the glory and praise of the One who made you, the one who loves you, the one who saved you. The value of living as “God pleasers” not “man pleasers” capped off with a “well done good and faithful servant.”

This value is more precious than anything, because our worth is so much more than what we settle for on the open market of this world, let alone the dredges of social media.

But did you notice that it’s a currency of brokenness in trial, humility in grief? This is the economy that Jon Foreman of Switchfoot is referring to when he sings, 

“In the economy of mercy I am a poor and begging man. In the currency of grace is where my song begins.”

In the context of the mercy and grace we have received, at the expense of the blood of Jesus and His death on the cross, in our place, for our sins, we have no grounds for pride.

Our worth is found in Christ. He is our boast as Paul emphatically declares,

“In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud” (Romans 15:17) and “may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14)

Consider that He “came not to be served but to serve” and “humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” as Paul describes the incomprehensible kenosis, the setting aside of His glory. He did not assert his rightness, and in the face of the injustice that was brought upon Him, he did not utter a word in defence. He was not rich in the currency of pride.


Consider that He was “despised and forsaken of men” as Isaiah 53 puts it. He was not rich in the currency of popularity.

The resolve of the MediaWise Church is one of poverty in both these economies of social media. To be bankrupt in the false allure of follower counts, likes and shares. To be completely impoverished of arrogance and pride.

For the MediaWise Church, our resolve must be a pursuit of the humility of Christ, and it must translate into how we engage with one another on social media.