Scrolling through my social media feed at the moment feels like stepping onto a battlefield. I suspect your experience may be similar. Post after post, comment after comment revealing the brokenness of humanity – people celebrating violence, demonising those who disagree with their views, and using inflammatory language. I was stunned as people I know made comments about what should happen to anyone who holds traditional views on gender, marriage or the sanctity of life.
And yet, right alongside that darkness, my feed was also flooded with something completely different – signs of God on the move. The stirring of belief in God, fresh openness to the gospel, was clearer than ever. I saw people in comments sections sharing that they had visited a church for the first time or returned after years away, others saying they had ordered Bibles or tried praying for the first time in response to the chaos filling the headlines. In the midst of the cultural chaos, God is breaking into people’s lives, speaking to them personally, softening their hearts and drawing them into relationship with Himself.
In the midst of the cultural chaos, God is breaking into people’s lives
The contrast on my screen was jarring; in one moment I was witnessing what felt like the darkest of dark, posts that left me feeling heavy, without words, as I considered the depravity in our land. And then in the next moment the most exciting posts, speaking of new life, faith exploration and joy, and I was speechless again – but this time in the best way as I marvelled at the wonderful things that God is doing in our time and the privilege it is that we get to be part of it.
In fact, my weekend feed felt like a picture of the Christian life itself. We live in a world of valleys and mountains, darkness and light, hope and despair, joy and suffering – all these things exist together. It can be challenging to know what to say in these times, to know how to respond, to discern what’s wise, but one thing I am very certain of from being on social media is that our nation, our friends and our neighbours desperately need the gospel. And as followers of Jesus, we are called to step into the tension of life, of light and darkness, and tell a better story than the one the world is telling. We are called to share the good news.
It reminded me of the promise in John 1:5: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” For many it feels like the world is unravelling, that darkness is taking over, that there is no hope. But the truth is darkness can wage war, but it cannot win. In fact, it’s already lost. We are those called to tell a hopeless nation that there is hope, a lost generation that they can be found, a world in chaos that God is in control.
We are those called to tell a hopeless nation that there is hope, a lost generation that they can be found, a world in chaos that God is in control.
The gospel doesn’t demand that we have perfectly crafted answers to every current event or question. It doesn’t require us to involve ourselves in every online debate or every crisis. But it does call every one of us to be faithful in our own spheres of influence – to speak light into the darkness wherever God has placed us, knowing that when you do choose to do that, you step onto a battlefield. Scripture makes it clear that as Christians we are to expect persecution, pushback and suffering but that God is with us through it all. God is not surprised by the darkness, the chaos, the sin – He is in the midst of it, transforming brokenness and pain into something beautiful. No matter who you are or what your personality might be, you have a part to play in this. God is inviting every believer to shine like lights in a broken world – online and offline, whatever the cost to us personally may be.
So as you look at your own feed this week, or decide to log off, consider how you can use your voice to speak light into the darkness, to share the gospel with a world that so desperately needs it, standing on the promise that the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.