It's Time for a Posture Check

My current running app likes to ask me for a "Posture Check" at least once per workout.  Sometimes this is really irritating, but today, it made me think in an entirely different way.

In a recent post I complained about how many people chose to share their political opinions on Facebook in a rude, demeaning, or condescending way.  This holds true on whether I agree with the 'side' the person is defending in their post. 

There is another approach taken by others that is more troubling to me - those that say "this is what I believe, but you believe something else.  Both are okay.  Its no big deal."  These posts and statements are not talking about a favorite flavor of ice cream or most enjoyable television show, but about serious moral questions.

So today, I was pleasantly surprised to see this post in my Facebook feed comparing the difference between POSTURE and POSITION.  I think he sums up well the difference between the two, although I believe both are important. 

If your POSTURE is that you will argue and ridicule those who disagree with you, your witness and relationships are damaged - regardless of whether you are correct!  On the other side, if your POSTURE is one of extreme flexibility bordering on relativism, your relationships are not damaged, but I still think your witness is minimized.  As Christians, we are clearly called to certain standards - not because our salvation depends on it.  Rather, the One who layed down His life for us knows what is best for us and we seek to honor Him through all of our actions.

What might it look like to hold firm to your position while maintaining a posture that glorifies God in our encounters with others?  I believe it hinges on a Biblical understanding of man.  All of us are made in the image of God and have value, dignity, and worth.  Nothing can take away from that position, and we need to recognize and proclaim this, maybe most especially with those with whom we disagree. 

The next time I open my running app on my iPhone, it will again remind me to do a posture check.  This is appropriate because this is something we will need to check regularly - daily, maybe hourly - both in our physical body and heart.  Perhaps with practice we can form a habit of a proper spiritual POSTURE toward our God and our fellow man.  This would be a change I would welcome.

I Can't Look Away from the Trainwreck....

Hello Facebook Friend - I'm blogging today wondering why you continue to post certain topics. 

I don't really care what you are eating for breakfast, lunch, snack, or dinner.

I don't think your children are the most amazing things in the world, and your posts will not convince me of this.

I don't want to play any games, so please stop inviting me to do so.

I don't care that YOU are playing games or that you just got a high score.

I don't like seeing opinions presented in a ridiculing manner or laced with profanity.  This would include politics, education, or health care.

But the bigger question I have is - WHY CAN I NOT CLOSE THE STUPID WEBSITE AND STOP READING THESE THINGS I DON'T CARE ABOUT?

I have never had lots of friends and I have never been popular.  This has not changed through high school, college, graduate school, mommy-hood, to the present.  I find myself in the same pattern of those times - on the outside looking in.  I was physically THERE - I heard the conversation - but I was not really A PART of it all.  If I had been absent, not much would have changed for the ones who were. 

So I 'act' on Facebook the way I always have - listening - but not being heard, watching - but not being seen.  Deep down I have the same desire and hope I have always had.  Someday, someone will look over, see my sad lonely self on the sideline and invite me to participate in life. 

Albert Einstein is credited as saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.  Given what I have shared here, I would certainly qualify as insane in this arena.  But what is a Biblical response to all of this?  We are made for relationship, but ultimately that relationship should be with Jesus.  People will always disappoint us - He never will.  He always sees and hears me - these are the truths I need remind myself of in moments of sadness.  And I don't need to be connected to Facebook or other social media to be 'followed' by Him.