Honor

Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house  . . . 

 - From Matthew 13

Social Media has been a magnifying glass, on the truth of this statement here, from the Lord. 

People "unfriending" each other like it's the latest craze. Friendships, blood relations, shattered and scattered, thanks to the fake intensity of emotions, on-line. 

For whatever reason - and I have not figured it out, although I think about it a lot - we get a heightened sense of our own identity when we're wandering about on Facebook. We're more sensitive, more defensive, more quick to judge. Our feelings get hurt more easily and deeply. Our lizard brains rule us. We jump all over on people we have known and admired for years, even decades. We can't just stop. We do not know how to re-escalate. It's almost as if it were a form of . . . 

 . . . addiction. 

The same discussions that we have on Facebook, we could have in person, much more productively. In fact that happened once, with me. A friend from high school, that I had not seen in ages, and I got into some severe scrapes on-line. I don't know about him, but I was deeply hurt and frustrated with our exchanges. 

But when I accidentally saw him, in person, one time, it was like the old times. We began laughing, and in that setting were able to explain and understand each other much better, than on Facebook. 

So I'm trying to tie it back to Jesus' statement about prophets, and honor, and their own countries. 

Apparently, real honor cannot exist in online discussions. Evidently, prophets should not attempt communicating on-line - prophesy is an area where careful articulation is required; and on-line discussions get sloppy. And Facebook is it's own little country, or family. Everything is intensified, because you can instantly get a hundred likes from strangers . . . which also instantly creates a wedge between you and your real friends. 

We should come back to a discussion about "honor," because it too is becoming a relic of the past. 

For now, I try to keep the challenge of Pastor Matt Hook, to heart - - - push away from comments, and responses, on-line, that will only stir up anger. 

Pointless anger has no honor, at all.