Is It Just My Imagination, or Is “Rude” the New Normal?

I’m grateful for the free platforms social media provide because many ministries, including Bible Love Notes, use it to share God’s Word. But I’m sometimes surprised at the rude comments.

Sometimes Christians are involved, but I’m not pointing the finger at Christians. I think most Christ-followers are gracious. Of course, we all could use a reminder to maintain that gracious attitude, especially when someone attacks our faith. It’s a problem we are going to encounter more and more as our culture devolves. 

I grew up hearing Ephesians 4:29 in the MPT version (Mom’s Practical Translation 😊): “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” 

It was my Mom’s version of: “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” 

That doesn’t mean we shrink from speaking up for gospel truths. But it means that whatever we say, we say it as graciously as possible. 

I love how Colossians 4:6 puts it: “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” 

If we share the salt of God’s truth in a rude way, it will be unsavory. Let’s make polite the “new normal,” especially when we disagree.

Important note: In the last few years, social media sites have set up rules that favor non-Christian groups/posts and hinder Christian groups/posts. If you are on Facebook or Pinterest, would you consider helping to get God's truths into more people's feeds? These easy acts described below can have far-reaching effects:

1. Please like/follow the Bible Love Notes Facebook page, and every time you are on Facebook, like, comment on, or share images and devotions, especially devotions because they are most often hindered by Facebook. This simple act of "liking" a devotion can help spread God's Word by improving the Bible Love Notes algorithm and getting the devotion into more people's feeds.

2. Please follow the Bible Love Notes Pinterest page, and share devotions directly from that Pinterest page or from the Bible Love Notes blog. This may seem insignificant, but it can greatly increase the traffic each post receives, getting God's truth into more people's feeds. 

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These  three 1-minute devotions from the We Need It Series can help us maintain polite speech habits:

We Need It: Kindness

We Need It: Self-Control

We Need It: Humility

Bible Love Notes