I like to check Facebook.
Let me start again. I like to check Facebook a lot. I check it from my phone most of the time. I’m looking for that little red number on the upper right side of the screen; it sits in the corner of the globe. That little number tells me how much attention I’m getting at any given moment. “How many people have liked my ‘hilarious’ musings and images that I’ve posted?” That little number will tell me. Most of those images I post are of me holding different fish on various bodies of water. Goofy-looking me, and a slimy fish; people like those pictures anyway. Beyond that, people like some pretty odd stuff on Facebook.
A Facebook friend lost his job about a year or so ago. He posted on Facebook that he was looking for available opportunities. At last count, that got 31 likes. I guess people were happy that guy left the workforce. Someone with a brain tumor recently died; that’s been trending on Facebook, and it’s well liked. Who are these people? “Cancer, huh? Well, I like that.” An old friend was forced into retirement because of chronic back pain. That post got a lot of likes too. Cheers to lower back pain! Terrorism, protests, missing persons, homicide, photos of sad dogs in small cages; like, like, like, like, and liked! I don’t like any of that! Clearly, Facebook is missing something. There has to be something to make it a little less sadistic. Maybe what Facebook needs is a “Praying” button.
“Sorry I haven’t posted anything on Facebook for a few days; I’ve been really sick.” [Click] Praying. “My cat Mr. Meows just died.” [Click] Praying. “I fell off of a ladder and broke my wrist.” [Click] Praying. “I just got a new job!” [Click] Prayers of praise! “60-days sober!” [Click] more praise! With a few button clicks I can lift prayers, thanks, and praise to God.
Imagine the power of prayer behind each one of your posts; good news or bad news. A friend recently destroyed his shoulder. That got 14 likes. What if those likes were turned into prayers? Mathew 18:20 tells us “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there among them." Whoa! It would only take 2 or 3 clicks of the prayer button to get Jesus himself to like your post! That would certainly speed the healing process, and I guess after that, there is really no need to care about any other likes. “Yeah, my post only got two prayers and one like. But the like was from Jesus, so that’s pretty cool.”
I could have used some Jesus-liking encouragement in high school. I got bullied. I got bullied more than I check Facebook. Remember, I check Facebook a lot. At 6’4” and 175lbs, I was a pretty easy target – tall and scrawny; stuck out like Waldo in his striped clothes when he’s the only one in the room. There was no Facebook back then; no social media to post my fears, anxieties and frustrations that came from the torment. I didn’t have much in the way of an outlet; a way to share the pain.
In a single day as a sophomore, a senior gulped down water from a fountain, turned toward me, and spit a mouthful of the water into my face. Not more than hour later a different senior pinned me six inches off the ground up against a wall by my neck. Two hours later I faced ridicule on the school bus because I didn’t fit the mold of what a cool kid looked like; “floods” – jeans too short – weren’t cool in the 1980s, especially JC Penney Plain Pockets. Even kids younger than me got in the fun of ridiculing awkward Bob. This included some kids that had to deal with bullying of their own. I was physically, emotionally, and spiritually defeated.
Those things are still happening to others today, and my heart goes out to those kids that I see on Facebook dealing with those same hurts and frustrations. My heart breaks a little more when I see people “liking” their status. “Yeah, I feel for you bub; that really has to suck.” Useless! What we should be doing is praying! Pray that Jesus takes away the emotional and physical pain, pray that God softens the hearts of the tormentors and gives them a gift of empathy, and pray that the Holy Spirit works in the life of the persecuted child so they know that they are so much more than the hurtful words of their bully oppressors. Click the “Praying” button! “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up…” (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
I know; I get it. We’re not clicking “Like” because we’re sadistic. We’re clicking like out of reverence for our friends, both close and distant; personally and electronically connected. I understand that. But we can do so much more! "Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement allow you to live in harmony with one another, according to the command of Christ Jesus, so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with a united mind and voice." (Romans 15:5-6) Through prayer we can live in harmony, our voices (or posts) are lifted up before God, and we get encouragement straight from God; the endurance we need to suffer through and move past whatever trials are in our lives. We move from a position of just “liking” what we see in the social media riddled world to a position of changing the world in which we all live! “...For I assure you: If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not come out except by prayer...” (Matthew 17:20-21)
No, there isn’t a “Praying” button on Facebook, and likely won’t be anytime soon. But what if we simply made it our nature to click like, and stop for a moment in prayer. Let’s lift up those that need encouragement and healing. Let’s praise God for everything good in our life. Let’s thank God we live in a world where we can “Like” cute kittens and puppies doing cute kitten and puppy things. Let’s rejoice that we can love one another and live in harmony with each other. Like the post; pray for the person. "For nothing will be impossible with God." (Luke 1:37) Let’s pray for our friends on Facebook. Let’s pray for them a lot.