Facebook...My Face In The Right Book

January 21, 2021

Pastor Ken Brown Jr

Hi this is pastor Ken and these are my thoughts on a Thursday…Facebook…My face in the right book. If that statement sounds familiar I stole (er…borrowed) it from pastor Anthony Wallace of Crossroad Christian Church in Dover. He made the comment in his message to us last week here at Crossroad Community Church in Georgetown. I have with his permission used another comment he made in the past to formulate my thoughts for a blog. If you look back to 7/16/20 you will find one entitled “The Purpose of the Mirror is to Offend” that one came from a comment he made while in conversation with him earlier that day. He has a way with words that make me take pause and think…I like that. In any event this past week he used the phrase “Facebook…my face in the right book”, and it caused me to consider. As a counselor I often inquire of someone seeking help, “Tell me about your personal relationship with Jesus”. I do this because it helps me to know where they are and how ready they may be to accept principles from God’s word which will guide them in their particular difficulty. The question often takes people aback however, and I often hear their answer begin with a phrase like, “I know I need to read my bible more but…”. It’s obvious from their answer that they don’t know why they simply know they should. They are intelligent people, they just don’t understand all of the reasons they need “facebook…their face in the right book”. The other day I was speaking with someone on the phone who I admire for many reasons but just one is the incredible walk he and his dear wife have with the Lord. They use “Facebook…their faces in the right book every day”, They have both on many occasions shared with me things the Lord has taught them from “Facebook”, and I have learned much from my relationship with them as they have shared with me from their relationship with Christ. This gentleman’s wife was in the hospital last week and was having a difficult time emotionally due to the physical difficulties but mostly from being separated from her husband while in the hospital due to the restrictions of Covid. I was almost surprised as he recounted to me that he had reminded her that the solution to her emotional trouble would be remedied by some good time in God’s Word. So why do we need “Facebook…our faces in the right book” so much. Why is it so important for people trying to develop a new relationship with Jesus as well as for those who have been forging one for most of their lives? Why does it, as that gentleman noted improve our emotional condition especially during extremely difficult times? I can only give a few of the myriad of reasons of necessity here today but I will address those. Many people have told me during the most difficult of times in their lives…”I just need a word from the Lord”. Is God resistant to speak to His children when they need Him most? I submit that He is not, in fact I would suggest that is when He is trying desperately to speak with us and encourage our hearts. So why is it that we sometimes find it so difficult to hear Him? We aren’t familiar enough with what He sounds like. My granddad Brown was an awesome man. I know I am biased, but he had no negative attributes. His only problem (and it was a big one) He was as deaf as a post. His “good ear” had about 10% capability to hear and decipher sound, his “bad ear” was stone deaf. One day when I was visiting with him and trying almost completely without success to converse with him about some trivial experience I had, my grandfather shocked me beyond belief. My grandmother, a woman no bigger than a minute walked into the room and asked in her small voice, “Eddie dear (what she called grandpa) would you like some tea” he immediately turned his head, formerly focused on my face trying his best to understand me, toward hers and answered with a “Yes Mary, I would love some tea”. I was flabbergasted! How on earth had he heard her quiet question when he was struggling so to hear me as I nearly yelled my words directly into his face? He knew her voice. He knew the kinds of things she would say. He was tuned into her because he had spent so much time listening to her. The more we are in God’s word, every day, the more we will know His voice…the kinds of things He says, and the more able we will be to hear that word of encouragement being impressed upon our spirit in our time of need. Another reason for “Facebook…our faces in the right book”, is to keep our ballast in the storms this life throws at us. We must be in the Word every day because we are in the world every day. The negative things happening around us constantly will upset us if we are not well balanced in truth. We are susceptible to believing things that we are otherwise unaccepting of if we are not being steeped in truth every day. We can be so affected by the world around us that even the falsehoods can begin to make sense. It is only with a good dose of “Facebook” time that we have what we need to stand by truth and discern that which is false. Ephesians 4:12-16 (AMP) says the following of our need for biblical instruction; [and He did this] to fully equip and perfect the saints (God’s people) for works of service, to build up the body of Christ [the church]; until we all reach oneness in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, [growing spiritually] to become a mature believer, reaching to the measure of the fullness of Christ [manifesting His spiritual completeness and exercising our spiritual gifts in unity]. So that we are no longer children [spiritually immature], tossed back and forth [like ships on a stormy sea] and carried about by every wind of [shifting] doctrine, by the cunning and trickery of [unscrupulous] men, by the deceitful scheming of people ready to do anything [for personal profit]. But speaking the truth in love [in all things—both our speech and our lives expressing His truth], let us grow up in all things into Him [following His example] who is the Head—Christ. From Him the whole body [the church, in all its various parts], joined and knitted firmly together by what every joint supplies, when each part is working properly, causes the body to grow and mature, building itself up in [unselfish] love. If we are to be able to know the difference between truth and plausible lies, if we are to be the people that we are called to be, if we are to love others with a transformational love, if we are to operate as the church the way He designed and desires us to do, we need to be instructed from His Word every day…every day. So now, being in the Word everyday so you can successfully be in the world everyday…go be awesome!