I woke up this morning and spent a little time on Facebook, which seems to be a part of the normal routine. This morning was different though from all the other mornings. Some layout changes had been made to the normal and some things had been added in and people were not happy. It showed. Status after status post displaying people's anger at the new system, the new changes. Soon to follow the many status posts from folks essentially saying "Get over it." Now hours later it seems all of the initial zeal has calmed a bit...from both camps.
I must admit I was pretty zealous about the whole thing in the beginning as well, but for a different reason. For some reason when I read all of the anger and passion over a change to something that seems rather small it awakened a sadness for what we have become. It made me wonder: where is that zeal for other things? We're quick to stand up when a change happens to our social media platform, but slower when it concerns other things. I bet you can think of a slew of them. It was through talking with some of the other church staff that I calmed a bit. They reminded me that there is a lot going on and changing in people's lives and so even when the simple things, that could be stable, are changed it can be too much. Makes sense.
I also can't be quick to point fingers. I don't spend my time doing things and being zealous for things that I probably should be. Actually, I usually waste time on Facebook instead of doing things that I maybe should be doing. I'm well aware of the fact that "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23. I'm really terrible about standing up for those folks that God tells me I should stand up for. I'm bad at helping the people God points to as needing help. It's not the end of the story though.
Romans 3:24 "and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ." This is what concerns me though. There are a lot of us walking around proclaiming this message, but I'm not entirely convinced we believe it. Mostly because I am confident of the fact that: whenever, however and wherever God changes things it's going to be a lot bigger than making changes to Facebook.
If we get bent out of shape because our Facebook layout changes, how are we going to handle it when God starts messing with things? And here's the thing: I am more than willing to bet God's going to change things to experiment, to be creative and to make things radically different. I hope there will be a purpose and a reasoning, but we probably won't get to see it all or won't realize/see right away. So how will we handle this change? "Pre recent Facebook changes" I thought we could handle them pretty well. "Post Facebook changes" worries me a bit. If we start to be honest with ourselves I don't think we're going to like the changes God makes.
Maybe when God goes to work God won't worry about messing with Facebook. God will be too busy making other things different.
