On Long Posts

The other day someone commented on one of my posts, ‘’people don’t have the attention span for long posts. Just quote scripture and let the Holy Spirit do the work.’’

I started to explain that everyone is different, that some people do read my long posts and send me messages and questions, so it’s for them that I write. Someone else told me that it was ‘woke Christianity,’ to just do things to please others, and not quote scripture.

Something got massively lost in the internet ether of words delivered without tone of voice or body language to get the jist, and suddenly the first person was messaging a mutual fb friend telling them what a terrible person I was.

The thing is, what I had been trying to explain, that when I first started getting interested in the Bible I was both curious, but also repelled. Like a magnet, turned the wrong way around, I got an icky feeling whenever people would put Bible verses in the comments of my posts.

Because Bible verses are like an exotic food, at first taste, it may seem so foreign that we are not even sure if we like it or not, if we even want to try it. After the taste has been acquired, it is the most delicious thing on earth, and we love to eat more of it than anything else.

I wonder if this person was somehow jumping to conclusions and thinking I was putting my words above the word of God, and was somehow some kind of ego-maniac, because I use my own words.

However, I do it just because the words pop into my head, and I feel called to share them. I think sometimes people don’t understand how creativity works, or different forms of creativity. I don’t write these fb posts, because I wake up one day and think, ‘’oh, what shall I put on fb?’’ I write them because I wake up in the morning with an idea, that won’t leave me alone and allow me to focus on anything else until I’ve put it down on the page.

Sometimes people don’t like the posts, and will say, ‘’oh why don’t you write about this, or why don’t you write about that?’’ and I don’t think they understand how little choice I have in the process. If it was up to me, I probably would be writing fictional stories, and wouldn’t be on fb at all! It’s not like every writer’s dream is to write fb posts for free after all.

Anyway, the point of this post is that nothing beats the word of God, the God that created our ability to speak and communicate, the original creator of the metaphor, and the imagery that creates such richness in our lives. However in a fallen world, what is most beautiful will appear the most ugly.

This is why sometimes people do need a way in, a person, a testimony, a story shared to strip away the illusions of the world so that exotic food can look a bit more appealing. Yes some people fall upon a Bible verse, and the Holy spirit comes alive in them. That’s why I put a small tiny delicacy from the Bible in every post (something that seems to have been lost in this moment of conflict).

If we are like walking, talking Bibles barking scripture at every person that we see, then I don’t think it’s going to go down very well. It’s more like force-feeding. Actually, funnily enough my daughter accused me of being a walking, talking Bible the other day, because I do get a bit over-enthusiastic sharing at home.

The point of this post is, that whoever you are, your voice matters, your testimony matters. There are a lot of people who think we need some big dramatic story of a vision of Jesus to be able to share, but it’s the variety and difference that is needed, because as woke as it might sound to some, we are all different. Some people find God in a short post of scripture, some in a long post, others find him in a street preacher, or a piece of paper saying ‘turn to Jesus now and forever’ which fluttered down from the sky (this really happened to a friend of mine!). While the routes are all different, the destination is the same; God’s Word.

We do start off from different places, which is why so many different kinds of people are needed to share. Then we can be united as one, in God’s kingdom. 'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave[a] nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.' - Galatians 3.28.