Before I get started with today's blog post, let me just offer up a huge THANK YOU to everyone who read this. Yesterday I tweeted that I was just a few views away from 7,000 - and this morning I was at 7,008 views. This is the 130th post in my blog's existence, so that is an average of 54 views per post. That's INSANE considering I just started this blog to get out my thoughts out and maybe have one person who can relate to me know that they're not alone in this journey. I never could have imagined that in just over a year I'd have this many views. You guys have seen me through a lot - and I thank you, sincerely, for your support!
Verse of the Day: "For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." Philippians 1:8-11
Today I want to address the issue of discernment. So buckle up, let's get started.
One of my favorite bloggers/authors/tweeters is Jon Acuff. I started following him my senior year of college when Jason showed me his "Monday Morning Memo" insertion. The Monday Morning Memo goes out to all Samford Journalism/Mass Communications (JMC) alumnae (alumni?) and is written by a Samford JMC alum. Jon Acuff writes the Stuff Christians Like blog, which is now also a book. Then he wrote the Quitter book, which is awesome and you should read it. Yesterday he just launched his book Start, which I pre-ordered and I'm really excited to get in the mail. Anyway, I'm a fan, and if you've never read anything of his, you should at least go follow him on Twitter.
Moving on...
Last October, Jon wrote a blog called "The Pinterest Bible" on Stuff Christians Like. In this post, he called out all those ascetically pretty, inaccurate, quote pictures that are all over Pinterest that reference a bible verse but are not found in the bible anywhere.
Initially, I laughed at the post, because it's funny, and kind of wrote it off. I thought that I knew the Word enough to not get caught up in mistaking a fluffy, man-made, quotes for God's Word. It simply would never happen.
And then it did.
So now, I play a fun little game I like to call the Pinterest Lotto.
Our generation, and even the generation before and after ours, is totally caught up in the Pinterest world. It really it like an entire world within a world. You can find anything - including what everyone's wedding will look like someday (hey, I'm not sayin' it's a bad thing...my entire wedding was planned out on Pinterest 3 months before Jason proposed...I'm just as guilty as the next girl).
Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE Pinterest. Like I just said, I had my entire wedding planned on Pinterest before I was engaged, and it was also a great resource once I was engaged. I have gotten so many DIY ideas from Pinterest that have saved Jason and I lots of money. I have gotten cleaning times, photography tips, and so much more - it really is a great resource!
But we have to be discerning.
And that's why I play the Pinterest Lotto.
This is how the game works: Every time I see something on Pinterest reference a bible verse, I guess if it's real or not real. I've learned that there's about a 65% chance it'll be real, 20% chance it'll be a "sum it up in your own words" type thing, and 15% chance it'll be way off and not even close to what the bible actually says in that book, chapter, and verse. If I'm write, I give myself a point (meaning I pin something new). I don't really know how this is a "lotto" in the traditional meaning of the word "lotto", but it sounds fun so I ran with it.
So let's play.
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| In the bible? Or not in the bible? |
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| In the bible? Or not in the bible? |
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| In the bible? Or not in the bible? |
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| In the bible? Or not in the bible? |
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| In the bible? Or not in the bible? |
Answer key:
- In the bible. "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." - Matthew 5:16 (ESV)
- Not in the bible! "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." - 1 Corinthians 15:57 (ESV)
- In the bible. "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." - John 14:18 (ESV)
- Not in the bible! "Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need." - Malachi 3:10 (ESV)
- In the bible. "looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." - Hebrews 12:2 (ESV)
How'd you do?
Those were pretty simple, but what about finding truth in encouraging statements that don't reference a bible verse? How do we know if it's biblically sound encouragement?
I was looking for something specific on Pinterest the other day and I came across this:
I was about halfway done writing the post about looking through things in Philippians 4:8 filter when I came across this, so I decided to use that method to discern if this was a true form of encouragement or not.
I came to the conclusion that it's not - and here's why: The bible says that we don't know what will happen tomorrow.
"Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin." - James 4:14-17
Just as an example, think about the horrific events that happened last week in Boston. Think about those who were just so happy to go to bed and wake up on Tuesday after the nightmare they'd lived on Monday. If they put their hope in tomorrow, what happens when Boston shuts down because of shooting on MIT's campus just a few days later? What happens when event after event after event happens in the middle of the night and we all wake up to hear these horrible reports on the news? We cannot put our hope in tomorrow - tomorrow is not guaranteed.
Our attitude should be "if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." (James 4:15).
I say all of this to urge you to be discerning. Be discerning about what you read, its context, its origin, its truth. Be discerning about what you watch, about what you see, and about what you do. Is it glorifying to God? If you question if it is or not, go back and use the Philippians 4:8 filter.
May we learn to truly rest in God's truth alone, and be a people who is discerning about what the world tries to teach us instead. And when on Pinterest, let's play the Pinterest Lotto :)
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