At this point, scrolling through the social media feed feels like you’re stepping into the battlefield. I think your experience is similar. Comment after the post, a comment revealing the breakdown of humanity – celebrating violence, demonizing people who disagree with opinions, and using inflammatory language. I was stunned as people I know commented on what should happen to someone who has traditional views on gender, marriage, or the holiness of life.
Yet, alongside that darkness, my bait also moves something completely different: God’s signature. The upset of belief in God, the fresh openness to the gospel, was more clear than ever.
I saw people in the comments section share their first visit to the church or returning a few years later.
In the midst of cultural confusion, God is invading people’s lives.
In the midst of cultural confusion, God invades people’s lives, speaks to them personally, softens their hearts, and gets involved in relationships with him.
The contrast on the screen was jarring. At one moment I felt the darkest, darkest thing, but I made me feel heavy without words, as if I had thought of the descent of our land. And the most exciting post in the next moment is speaking of new life, exploration of faith, joy, I am once again speechless, but this time I am marveling at the wonderful things and privileges that God is doing in our time, and that is why we are part of it.
In fact, my weekend feed felt like a photograph of Christian life itself. We live in a world of valleys and mountains, darkness and light, hope and despair, joy and suffering. All of these exist together.
Our nation, our friends, our neighbors desperately need the gospel.
Knowing what to say in these times, knowing how to respond, identifying wise things can be challenging, but one thing I am very certain about joining social media is that our country, friends and neighbors desperately need the gospel. And as followers of Jesus, we are called to step into the tensions of life, light and darkness, telling stories better than what the world is telling. They are called to share the good news.
It reminded me of the promises of John 1:5. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” For many, it means that the world feels like it’s unraveling, the darkness takes over and there is no hope.
But the truth is that darkness can wage war, but we cannot win. In fact, it’s already gone. We are called to convey hopeful nations, hope, the lost generations they can find, the world of God-ruled chaos.
Speak the light in the darkness wherever God has placed us.
The Gospels do not require us to have fully prepared answers to all current events and questions. You don’t have to involve yourself in every online discussion or every crisis. But it calls for us all to remain true to our own realm of influence. Just as God speaks light into the darkness wherever we place us, we know that when you choose to do it, you step into the battlefield.
The Bible reveals that as Christians we expect persecution, pushback and suffering, but God makes it clear that we are with us through it. God is not surprised by darkness, confusion, or sin. He is in the middle of it, turning breakage and pain into something beautiful.
God invites all believers to shine like the light of a broken world.
No matter who you are or what your personality is, you have a role to play in this. God invites us to all our followers to shine like the light of a broken world, even if we personally spend our money.
So when you see your own bait this week or decide to log off, use your voice to shine a light into the darkness, sharing the gospel with a world that desperately needs it, standing on the promise that the light is shining in the darkness and that the darkness has not overcome it.
Originally it was made public because it was human. It was reissued with permission.
Katherine Brown joined the Evangelical Alliance UK in 2023 and became part of the human team. Before this, she worked for the Student Ministry and equipped her students to share their faith with friends. Katherine becomes a Christian at a drama school and is passionate about evangelism, storytelling and watching young adults thrive in the church!
The British Evangelical Alliance joins together for the Gospel, consisting of hundreds of organizations, thousands of churches and tens of thousands of individuals. The Evangelical Alliance, representing our members since 1846, is the oldest and largest evangelical unity movement in Britain. Uniting with missions and voices, we exist to serve and strengthen the work of the Church in our communities and society as a whole. Emphasizing the important opportunities and challenges facing the Church today, we work together to fund Christians so that Christians can act on their faith in Jesus and speak in the fields of gospel, justice and their influence.
