How to Follow Jesus in the Digital Age

How to Follow Jesus in the Digital Age

Well this week we are looking at two things-Following Jesus, and doing so in the Digital Age. Actually because of the current pandemic, we’ve all had to upskill in terms of understanding technology available to us. And even after the pandemic, I guess a lot of new things we use, like Zoom and Google classroom, well they’ll be here to stay. The Digital Age and the Internet can offer us powerful tools-but beware-there are some pitfalls. So I’d like to put this question to you-is the DIGITAL AGE causing you to fall away from Jesus or to FOLLOW HIM?

Read on!

Use of and access to the Internet is a huge subject so to let’s break it down a bit.

What are the Pros (Positives) and what are the Cons (Negatives)? I think the answer to those questions are possibly rooted in how much time we spend on the internet and how we much we let it influence our thinking and behaviour. It’s clear from the Bible that we need to transform our minds with what God says and not the popular culture of the world. So we need to be quite savvy about what we watch, read and listen to.

CONS (Negatives).

Okay, let’s start with the negatives and end with the positives. Much of social media is rooted in the idea of promoting ME and people showing off-let’s be real here. This can lead to us becoming proud and comparing ourselves to others. We’re not called to live lives that promote ourselves but lives that promote Jesus and serve others. I think the following verse expresses that much better than I ever could.

A lot of the images we see on Social Media can also lead us to feeling insecure and forgetting this truth:

This brings me to my next point. The Internet/Social Media is full of unreality. People take pictures of themselves which are heavily filtered. For example:

People also post facts that are not real-it can be a place of lies and fake news. We have to be careful therefore and very selective about what we take in and absorb.

WHAT ABOUT THE GOOD STUFF? PROS (Positives).

There is no doubt the DIGITAL AGE has transformed the way we FOLLOW JESUS.

There are amazing posts from men and woman of God all over social media platforms, from thoughts of the day to full on sermons. It’s a fantastic way to get fed spiritually. I love listening to stuff on YouTube from people I know have something significant to share. It’s an amazing tool that helps us share the Good News about Jesus. Years ago people had to travel thousands of miles to share their faith at great expense and personal cost. Now we can just upload posts online. How is amazing is that?

There is also lots of information online about how you can get involved in helping others, this leads to humility as opposed to pride. If we look at what’s going on in the Persecuted Church abroad for example, it leads us to wanting to do something for God. Here we compare ourselves to others, but in a good way. Open Doors Youth is a great organization to look at and helps us to think about others rather than ourselves.

We recognise how fortunate we are. The Internet therefore is a place of so much Truth, we can discover things on there that are amazing and draw us closer to God.

Here are a few links that demonstrate just that. Enjoy this mini feast of God and good things!

How to use Social Media for God.

Hillsong Youth Service Nov 6th

Elevation Youth Service Nov 4th

I’d like you do a little bit of a self-audit now-how much time are you spending on the Internet and what are you watching? How much time are you wasting? Be real. There are 24 hours in one day and 60 minutes in one hour. How many of your daily minutes, all 1440 of them do you spend online? And how much of that time is spent with God?

Just remember that God is speaking to you constantly, so be a person of faith and take time to listen to Him, using the Internet or not.

How dependent are you on your phone for example. And maybe as you reflect over all of this, you might want to ask God to help you?

This next clip is quite funny.

Over the next few weeks SONG OF THE BLOG will feature tracks from Hillsong Young and Free’s latest album ALL OF MY BEST FRIENDS

And this documentary about the making of the album is another perfect example of how digital technology can draw us closer to God.

The Making of All of My Best Friends – (Documentary Series) Episode 1

This week’s Team Talk on HOW TO FOLLOW JESUS IN THE DIGITAL AGE is presented by……-JON!

FRIDAY NIGHT YOUTH ONLINE-Our next Zoom meeting (Years 7 to Year 13) will be November 20TH at 7:30 pm. If you need more details regarding the Zoom invite contact the church office-hope to see you there. We also have an exciting meeting coming up for Christmas-watch this space for more details!

RELENTLESS (Sixth Form and Young Adults)-The next meeting will be on December 3rd. Naomi will contact the group directly.

So have another good fortnight everyone, hope school, college or university is going well-God is with you and has plans to prosper you.

Claire and the VCC Youth Team

 

 

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