Have you noticed how many people are quick to share their opinions today? Frankly, sharing your opinion in this technological era is almost as easy as breathing. All you have to do is go to any social media site and either make your own post or comment on someone else’s post and voila! And I certainly understand this phenomenon (at least slightly), since I’ve been posting my opinion every week for more than five years. When it comes to sharing my opinion, I am as guilty as anyone else.
The problem that we get ourselves into, however, is when we start believing that our comments and posts are the best way that we can make a difference. For all of the sharing of our opinions that we partake in, the reality is that very rarely will those opinions actually bring about a positive change in someone’s life. It’s just that opinions are so easy to offer. They cost us nothing, take very little time at all, and we don’t even have to look away from our phones or computers to proclaim them. And they often bring a value commensurate with the cost of offering them. Really making a difference requires getting involved and making a difference beyond offering a few words.
This isn’t too different from an issue addressed in the Bible, in the Book of James. James writes:
“15Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
James’ point was that while prayer and blessings are nice, they mean very little when there is an opportunity to actually do something to alleviate the problem. In this manner, it is very much like those who will comment or offer their opinion, but not actually get out from behind their computers to provide tangible assistance. Prayer is wonderful, and opinions can be good too, but the real benefit is felt when those first steps lead to action steps. That is the point when we start actually having a positive impact on the world around us.
Theodore Roosevelt once said “It is not the critic who counts; nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds”
I want to encourage you today to think what the next steps might be for something that you feel strongly enough to post your opinion about. After all, if you were sufficiently motivated to voice your opinion, shouldn’t you be willing to back that up with something more tangible? Get into the arena, and don’t be satisfied with simply tossing your opinions out to the world. There are so many needs in the world of volunteerism and civic involvement, where your passions that shaped your opinions can be taken to that point of action, and lives can be changed.
Peace and blessings – Pastor Aaron