To Do or just to Speak, that is the Question!

It feels to me like there has been an increase in the ‘show your support by pasting this’ type of Facebook posts recently. The idea is that is you either share or copy and paste the status in order to show your support for people who are depressed, terminally ill or whatever the particular issue is.

I was thinking about this today and it occurred to me that people who are struggling would probably rather have real and heartfelt support as opposed to lots of people saying they feel supportive but who don’t do anything about it.

It’s easy to speak up and to say we feel we ought to be helping people but it is something entirely different to actually help them.

So, rather than posting to say you are supportive of someone who is depressed, why not find someone who is depressed and give them some of your time. Please don’t do this in a condescending way, just simply give people your time, by listening to and being with them.

When we speak on behalf of the stressed, the struggling and the marginalized, do we do so with the expectation that we also need to do something or do we do it to motivate others so that hopefully we won’t have to do anything?

The Bible says: ¹⁴ What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone?¹⁵ Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing,¹⁶ and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?¹⁷ So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.
¹⁸ Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” (James 2)

If we just speak and never do when it comes to social action then we are not following Jesus in the way that he intends.

Can you imagine if God had posted a Facebook status saying he really loves the world for two hours rather than sending Jesus and that he had been satisfied with that? If he had, we would be lost and far from God but instead God took action and demonstrated his love for us through his son Jesus.

Next time you see a ‘post this to support …’ status, I would encourage you to pray for the people involved and to also pray for the opportunity to show love to someone facing the issues being highlighted.

To Do or just to Speak, that is the Question!