Resolution 6 - Wisdom

Transcribed from our YouTube video:
10 Resolutions for the MediaWise.church - Resolution 6 - Wisdom

Are you familiar with the curiosity gap? That’s the space between what you know and what you want to know. 

On social media, the curiosity gap is what gives “click bait” its allure, that irresistible urge to click a link based purely on its cleverly crafted title.

“The Scary New Science That Shows Milk Is Bad for You” Curiosity gap.

“All she did was drag her plate across the pool, and what happened next blew my mind.” Curiosity gap.

“I can’t believe I’ve never used this correctly” Curiosity gap. Are you curious yet?

Social media is a minefield of these sneaky ploys to hijack your time, manipulate your emotions and monetize your engagement. And we are all ill-equipped to resist the seductive content vying for our attention. Succumbing to mindless impulses. Fostering unhealthy habits. 

There’s a reason click bait is also called click holes. A bottomless abyss of nonsense.

Descending from an undisciplined, cavalier attitude towards time management, to a seemingly insignificant lack of wisdom when dealing with click bait, to small failures to “guard your heart”, to a subtle emergence of unhealthy patterns in thought and speech and an unwillingness to consider the dangers described in James 3 verse 8 when he writes:

“But no one can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

No wonder some get to the point where they post things online that are so thoughtless, so awful, so hurtful. 

And so jobs are lost, reputations are tarnished, employers overlook resumes, friends silently ghosting and being ghosted, testimonies lay in ruin, all because of a carelessness with words online and a tragic lack of wisdom.

Consider the untameable tongue and the reality that there’s no undo button on social media, and you can begin to understand the crisis unfolding before us. Even if you think it’s deleted, what you’ve posted never goes away. It’s forever, encased in digital sediment, replicated across multiple backups and archives.

Every post, even those thought to be anonymous, are in many ways trackable and traceable to your true identity, through embedded GPS data, IP addresses, cross platform analytics tokens and trackers, or even simply your stylometric fingerprint, that is your unique, individualistic writing style.

So, whether you engage online with your real name or simply a pseudonym, there is an urgent need for wisdom. This is a wake up call for the Church. 

But what about you?

To answer this question, James took a show of hands two chapters earlier by stating “if any of us lacks wisdom”. 

Did you catch that? He said, “If”. IF? “If any of us”. Such a gentle way to pose the rhetorical question “Do we have any wisdom lackers in the room?”

As the hands slowly begin to rise, when we’re honest with ourselves, ours sheepishly concurs. Could there ever be a room where every hand doesn’t go up?

We’re all in desperate need of wisdom. So, James tells us how to get it.

“…let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given.”

Proverbs 2:6 in fact asserts that God is the ultimate and exclusive source of wisdom, “For the Lord gives wisdom; from HIS mouth come knowledge and understanding;”

So this prayer - petitions the only one who can answer it, but also is preloaded with a guaranteed answer.  It WILL be given.  We never have to wonder how God will respond.  It WILL be given.  And not just a little, a generous outpouring. 

We simply fail to ask, or we ask faithlessly.

So, let’s consider these four prayer points for the MediaWise.church. We must pray for the wisdom to know when to listen, the wisdom to know when to speak, the wisdom to know what to speak, and the wisdom to know when to run.

The wisdom of knowing when to listen, is to not be baited into the time suck of worthless content. The discernment to appraise and value content with a higher standard of excellence, that is to say… 

“whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Philippians 4:8

The wisdom to know when to listen to those who actually want good faith debate, and refuse to listen to those who delight in antagonism, those who are simply there to argue and rage against those who disagree. This is the essence of the social media troll, those who are amused by making others angry, and the satisfaction of occupying space in their victims heads, rent free.

Proverbs has a lot to say about trolls. Solomon calls them fools. Specifically those who “take no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing opinions.” (Proverbs 18:2 ) with “lips that walk into a fight, and a mouth that invites a beating” (Proverbs 18:6). The exhortation is to “answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.” (Proverbs 26:4)

So this is a prayer for the wisdom to know when to run.

Keep in mind, knowing when to listen, the wisdom of a good listener, is a pursuit to know the heart of God. How does He hear the pains, frustrations, angers and fears overwhelming the airwaves of social media, and those shouting into its void? How is God’s heart moved in love towards those in the throes of sin, the agony of hopelessness, abandoned by fear? How should we align our hearts with His?

The wisdom to know when to speak, and the patience to wait for the right time. Being “slow to speak and slow to anger” as James 1:19 exhorts us.

Being slow to speak is to be quick to recognize when our hearts are erupting in offence, frustration, or anger, and the holy hesitation required to log off and put down the devices.

The wisdom to know the difference between words that can be spoken openly, publicly, to a watching world, or may be better spoken in private, a direct message or even better, face to face or a phone call.

The wisdom to recognize FOMO, that “fear of missing out”, and the reality that you’re not missing out on anything by refusing to join in on the internet joke of the moment, or not offering an opinion on matters that ultimately don’t matter.

And yet, knowing when to listen and when to speak is of no value if we don’t have the wisdom for what to speak. The contents of our speech, the focal point of our words must be divinely wise.

Consider the limited brain-space, if any, others reserve for you and your words. Generally speaking, at best, those in our sphere of influence are left with impressions about who you are and what you love, what’s your core identity. Being wise means being consciously intentional about what to speak, at the risk of being known for the wrong things.

Daniel 12:3 captures it this way, “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

Daniel equates wisdom with turning many to righteousness. Righteousness being that essential “what” of our speech. 

But turning many to righteousness is not turning people to religion. 

Christ is our righteousness and it is not obtained on the basis of morality, it is by faith. Turning many to righteousness is to turn people to Christ. In fact there is no righteousness apart from Christ, just filthy rags.

To showcase Christ, is to speak forth the mercies of the perfect sacrifice, the glories of the risen Saviour, and the blessed hope of His return for those who love Him.

This is a wisdom that speaks Christ, and His righteousness, as Paul intentionally decided in 1 Corinthians 2:2 to “know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

The resolve of the MediaWise church must be for this kind of wisdom as we navigate social media, to avoid the minefields, the compromising, triggering, testimony damaging pitfalls and traps of a roaming beast, a beast that is seeking to devour.

This resolution of the MediaWise.church echoes Paul in Ephesians 1:16-17 when he asks that “God may give a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.” You see, Christ is our wisdom, and the more He is revealed in the Word of God, and applied by the Spirit of God, the wiser we will be.