Today’s post is the culmination of my thoughts after spending eight weeks enmeshed in the book of James. I began wondering if Jesus’ earthly ministry took place today in our culture, what would it look like? I then began to probe deeper into my heart and asked if Jesus posted what He was doing and who He was helping on Facebook, would I defriend Him because I was afraid of the social repercussions supporting His ministry might have on me? Here are some of my thoughts…

Would you defriend Jesus from your Facebook when You found Him on the wrong side of town speaking with a prostitute because that woman has the same worth to Him as the deacon in your church?

Romans 2:11, “For there is not partiality (favoritism) with God.”

James 2:9, “but if you show partiality (favoritism), you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.”

Would you defriend Jesus from your Facebook when You saw Him walking out of the bar with his arm around a drunken man because Jesus can see the abused boy hidden within that never healed?

Matthew 9:11-13, “And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.

Would you defriend Jesus from your Facebook when You saw Him share a meal with a rough crowd with even rougher language because He cares little about His reputation and more about the destiny of each and every soul seated there?

Jonah 4:10-11, “But the Lord said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left-and much livestock?”

Would you defriend Jesus from your Facebook when He took a stand against a prominent Christian leader or institution because nothing makes Him more mad than when we use His name to wound those sitting in the pew?

Matthew 18:6-7, “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of offenses! For offenses must come, but woe to that man whom the offense comes!”

Would you defriend Jesus from your Facebook when the same grace you have claimed in His name is shown to someone you don’t deem deserves it?

Matthew 18:33, “Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?”

Ephesians 4:32, “And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.”

During Jesus’ ministry, He was “defriended” so to speak by the Pharisees, the Jewish religious sect, that claimed to be doing God’s work. That got me thinking about how Jesus’ ministry might be misinterpreted by Christians today.

Would we decide He was hanging with the world too closely? Would we be uncomfortable with the company He would keep? The Pharisees were unwilling to even entertain the notion that Jesus was who He said He was. They wanted things to stay the same because that is how it had always been done. Do we not do the same thing in our churches today?

Let’s not be content to quench the Spirit within us. Let’s not become complacent while others are walking away from their faith no longer able to keep up the fake facade. Let’s not defriend Jesus for fear of what true service to Him would do to our social circles.

I have to face the truth that sometimes I don’t minister to certain people out of fear of what others might think of me or might assume about me. The book of James calls us to live out our faith, prove our faith by pouring it into the lives of others.

God has given me a burden for the women wounded in the pews and yet many of the posts He puts on my heart I don’t share because I am afraid I might offend someone and in the process become a social outcast. I am beginning to not be afraid anymore. I am starting to realize I should be more afraid of disobeying God’s calling in my life than in what it might cost me personally to do so.

It takes just one person to determine not to sit silent any longer. It takes just one spark in one heart to light a fire of authentic ministry that when spread cannot be stopped. Never underestimate the power Christ’s love reflected in our lives can have on a person. I do not want to callously walk by the undesirables I come across. I do not want to limit God’s presence in my life because it might make me uncomfortable. Lord help me to see through Your eyes, help me to love with Your love, and help me to live out my faith.