Thinking Out Loud

“[Jesus] said to another person, ‘Come, follow me.’ The man agreed, but he said, ‘Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.’” — Luke 9:59

Have you ever met people who say they like Jesus or even follow Him, but their life and actions seem to be far from the Jesus we read about in Scripture? Me too. And after thinking about this for a while, I am starting to refer to them as “Facebook” Christians. What on earth could I mean by that? Let me explain.

Whenever I write a new blog, I always put a link to the blog on my Facebook page. As you know, the Facebook link only allows a small excerpt from the entire article. Therefore, I try to make this brief excerpt intriguing in a way that will encourage the reader to click on the link and read the whole article.

What I’ve noticed, however, is how often someone will “like” my excerpt without actually clicking on the link and reading the article. Then there are others will leave a comment that has nothing to do with the main point of the blog.

How do I know all the “likes” I see on Facebook haven’t read the entire blog? Because WordPress tells me how many people have clicked on my link in Facebook. I may have fifteen “likes” on Facebook, but WordPress tells me only three people have actually clicked the link.

Furthermore, I have 149 people who say they follow my blog. This means 149 people get an email notice whenever I post a new blog. Still, I may only get fifty or so visits after posting a new blog, meaning two-thirds of the people who say they are following me really aren’t.

This makes me wonder how many people “like” Jesus without fully reading and studying His Word, and how many claim to be His follower but never really follow up on their commitment. They give a thumbs-up to Scriptural ideals but don’t make those ideals central to their life. They read portions of Scripture and give a “like” to the parts they agree with, or comment on its contents without reading or engaging in the whole Bible. Many Christians have read the Bible the way Arthur Freed explained a screenplay to Samuel Goldwyn, “I’ve read part of it all the way through.” And for them, that is enough to warrant a “like.”

I don’t want to just “like” Jesus. I don’t want to claim to be a follower of His but never actually follow up on His instructions. I don’t want to be like the man in Luke 9 who had more pressing items to deal with than following Jesus. We are called to follow Jesus on His terms, not on ours. Either we are a follower or we are not. Beware of being a “Facebook” Christian.