When everyone has something to say, who has the time to listen?
It seems like just about everyone you run into feels as though they are entitled to publicly voice their thoughts and opinions. With a multitude of social media outlets available for free it’s now rather easy (not to mention common place) to tell the world what you did 5 minutes ago, what your about to do in 30, and how the jalapeño humus you had at lunch was “the best thing ever”.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, yes…I do realize the irony of pondering this and sitting down to blog about it.
Take myself for instance. Anyone who knows me would tend to say that, in general, I’m fairly prudent in my speech. I don’t waste many words and I tend to think things over, for better or for worse, before I speak or act. But put a blog or a facebook profile in front of me and I’ll blabber on about what I had for lunch and also about how the person standing in front of me in line has a shoelace untied and I’m way more annoyed about that than I should be.
When it comes down to it, sometimes we just say too much.
If you doubt the idea of this, just go to the online version of your local newspaper and read the comments after an article. I’ll think you’ll agree – some people just say too much…and don’t have the desire to filter their language. I’m often surprised at the number of negative and hurtful comments.
Let’s take this concept further even. Many people I know are avid followers of different pastors and their teachings, books, sermons, etc. This isn’t a bad thing, however I’ve noticed some people appear to lose sight of what scripture says and begin to hold speculative ideas in higher regard than the written truth. I find that there’s an interesting connection between the thing that drives the emotion, passion, and spirit behind of some of these ideas and the drive to write those things that are so easily spouted on a social network. Maybe because there’s an illusion of safety there – safety in the fact that on-line you don’t have to say anything face to face and safety in the fact that a pastor with a large mega church has a captive audience that may be likely to buy in to an idea.
In the end, I could really care less about what pastor X, Y, or Z says and I’m not likely to read the latest book written on some aspect of faith. I don’t want to hear about how this person really feels that if Jesus were standing in the room he’d probably be eating pickles and peanut butter. Instead, I want to hear truth and I want to hear from God for myself. Now, I’m not advocating that preaching on unique ideas should stop, and I’m not advocating that we shouldn’t have sermons by trendy mega church pastors – what I am saying is that we have a lot of “stuff” thrown at our ears and we’re quick to accept it or we’re quick to drop it completely.
I need to make sure I’m listening more and that I’m listening to the right voices. The voice of truth.
