The last two posts have been about the dangers and harm in social media but today I want to focus on the good that can come out of it. There are many ways to use social media to help cultivate our faith and point others to Jesus. Christians have an amazing platform to share the Gospel through intentional social media. It will never be the same as face to face interaction but we have to acknowledge that many people will not talk face to face about spiritual things but they will read words through social media. And if our words are pointing people to Jesus then social media can be a divinely beautiful catalyst in sharing the Gospel and growing our faith. Sharing where we see God working in our lives is one way to point people to Jesus.

Utilizing faith building apps on our phone is another great way to redeem our phones for divine purposes. Here’s a few I like and use….

 Faith building Apps

• The Bible App  YouVersion –  Life Church created this app in 2008 and has had more than 100 million downloads. It’s all FREE. What an incredible ministry. So you can read your Bible on your Bible App, find reading plans, read the verse of the day, create scripture images and so much more. This is a great app for small groups to stay connected as you can have friends. Kids are all into keeping up with their streaks. Who am I kidding – so are adults! My caution is that we keep our focus and purpose of reading our Bible App. It’s to know Jesus more and to love him more. I fear that sometimes we just don’t want to break our streak. *hand raised.
• PRAYERMATE – This app allows you to record your prayers and has daily prayer prompts. I love to use this app and go back and look at answered prayer. It’s not the easiest app to navigate in my opinion but it accomplishes what I was looking for. There might be a better one out there. If so, please comment.

These are just two apps that help me in my spiritual growth. There’s over a million apps to choose from and so many great Christ-centered ones. You’ve probably figured out what works for you as well. Teaching our kids about these resources is a great thing as well. Let some of their first phone/ipod exposure be some of these apps so they become a habit over time. I revolted initially agains the Bible App for my kids in church. I wanted the hardcopy Bible for them. But I decided I didn’t want to make that a hill to die on. And now I have been drawn to the digital side of things and I open my phone to the book of Luke. Part of me still doesn’t like it but I know I need to get over it. God’s word is God’s word – on a screen or on paper.

What I feel we need to guard against is not letting these apps and read-to-me devotionals make us lazy in studying God’s word for ourselves. I’m all about life hacks. I get it. But what I don’t want to do is tag Jesus on and squeeze him in. I want him to be my main focus. He is who I live for each day. So balancing the convenience of faith building apps with seeking Jesus like a lost treasure remains a challenge. I like to look at Christian Apps as a supplemental faith builder because for me personally I have a hard time studying from my phone. I get distracted. A ding, a notification, a text, etc easily takes my focus away. So my faith infused apps are used when I work out and for add ons. But my study time and prayer remains hands-on in a quiet set-aside place.

Question for you: How is your phone, social media and the internet webs increasing your platform to point others to Jesus?