Anyone who spends any amount of time on social media will tell you it can be a bitterly disappointing experience. Trolls seem to be a dime a dozen. They are in ample supply everywhere. There are “tone” police. There are “grammar” police. “Spelling” police can’t seem to resist speaking up. There are even people who are quick to point out your opinions aren’t “politically correct”. People are ” triggered” by “micro-aggressions”. 

It seems that it has become very common for the average person to have an exceedingly “thin skin”. Some people actively seek out reasons to become offended.  I wonder why that is?

Many of the social mores of the “politically correct” police are made up out of whole cloth by Marxists at universities who are indoctrinating the next generation to think of themselves as victims of every kind of misogyny, bigotry, and hate filled heart. With their feelings worn lightly on their sleeves, any slight however small will send them into a spiralling despair of selfishness. 

Many universities have found matriculation down 40%, even 50% after a particular egregious episode or two that made headlines. It seems parents are reluctant to pay $50,000 + per year to send their youngsters into an environment not much better than a social cesspool. And who can blame them?

So is there a solution to the unrest on campuses as well as the ubiquitous amount of disagreeable discourse on social media? Many are simply checking out. Or should I say deleting their account? As long as the human heart is broken at its core, nothing will change. Scripture tells us quite clearly that we will reap whatever we sow. 

As Christians we have a responsibility to sow L-O-V-E. If more and more of us resist the temptation to return a witty sarcastic remark, even when otherwise it might be appropriate, but instead answer with LOVE maybe the tide will turn. All too often we forget many of the words of caution that remain before us in Scripture. 

Luke 6:31  
And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

1 Corinthians 13
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 

Matt 5:43-44  “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…

Mark 12:31   The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The admonitions to love in scripture are unending and yet we too often forget they even exist. It is all to easy to let our emotions rule and deliver that tart retort instead of thinking before we speak.

May we ALL do better and make the Lord proud of His children.

Kent McDonald