Nathan Neighbors
Follower of Christ, Husband, Father, & Youth Pastor
Salt & Light – Text & Pix
Lately I’ve been struggling with the issue of cell phones, texting, pixing, Facebook, Myspace and the like. Especially as it relates to my students. I hurt when I think about the things that go across their computer screens at night and the content of text messages and chats on-line. Where did the innocence go? Sure, our students are faced with a lot from the media, but now, more than ever, their faced with things from their friends and acquaintances they meet on the Internet. Rather than just being influenced during six or seven hours of school like it was for me 15yrs ago, there’s 24hr access for teenagers on-line and on cell phones – talking with their fingers.
Today in my quiet time I was reading from Matthew 5 where Christ calls us as his followers to be, “salt and light” to the world. How are we to be salt and light to the world if we’re not living it in front of them on our cell phones, our Facebook, or our Myspace accounts? If our photos, the texts we send, the songs we post, the content of our blogs, and our chats on-line aren’t saturated with our faith in Jesus Christ, what are we telling the people who see our sites or receive our messages? Over the past few weeks both of our guy’s discipleship groups have been going through a study about being godly men. One of the main themes over and over on this topic in scripture is the idea of guarding our hearts. To stand in the midst of this world, we must protect our hearts from things that can cause us to stumble (a nice word for sin).
The passage from Matthew 5 says that we are to be a “city on a hill,” and a light before men. May we begin letting them, “see our good deeds and praise our Heavenly Father.”
What do you think? Where should the line be drawn on cell phone texting, chat rooms, Facebook, and Myspace sites? When should a teenager get their first cell phone? What forms of accountability do you have? Are you’re parents monitoring what you’re up to? If so, are you giving them grief about it? How can we be a brighter light to our friends not only at church and at school, but also on-line? Send me your feedback. Either post a comment or email me you’re thoughts.
Nathan Neighbors 
I was reading and think about the blog you wrote on salt & light and:
I think that when people r textsing or facebook/myspace to there friends, they should tell them about Christ and if they say that they do follow Christ, then they should let there action speak louder than there words.
This is to weird to find you blogging about this passage. Last night at our Campus Crusade Bible Study we read this and talked about what it means to be the salt and the light. I have never thought this passage quite like you did, but I agree. If only more people realized that their light shines all the time, even through cyber space!
8k0OWT U cool ))
The latest commentary went on and it seems, like most things, there are two sides to every story – and about 500 ways to interpret it. Check the comments for more info.