I've written about mission statements before and how important they can be to keep one focused on what is truly important in life lest all the other little things which pop up daily keep a person from doing what he truly wishes to do with his days in this world. Though not all share my views, I've told you my mission statement can be summed up in the words of Jesus' Great Commission to disciple the nations for Him by going out, baptizing in the name of the Triune God and teaching them all that Jesus taught and commanded (cf. Matt. 28:18-20; Luke 24:46-47; Mark 16:15-16, etc.).
As a preacher and writer, I often write articles for our church web page, as well as a few others I edit and manage, relating to Biblical doctrine and applications of that doctrine to Christian life. My goal in so doing is to teach what Jesus taught and commanded, no more and no less. And though I have compiled a couple of short books, I try to keep my writing shorter and more brief to reach people who would not be likely to sit down and read an entire book on Christian doctrine; but I've discovered that my idea of brief is not brief enough for a lot of folks because, if they are not already interested in Biblical doctrine and Jesus' teaching, they are probably not going to take the time to read a full page or more on the subject.
And, perhaps, nowhere is this more true than on social media sites. I readily admit that, at 60 years of age and living a good part of my life without even thinking I'd some day own a computer and be able to write, edit and correct articles before putting anything on paper, I'm not always up to speed when it comes to using social media. But, I have learned a few things and one of the things I've learned is that people's attention spans are extremely short when it comes to viewing things on social media. If an item doesn't look extremely interesting from the start or can't be read in a few seconds, they're off to other things. After all, with almost everyone posting on social media sites, the competition for attention and views is intense.
Yes, I tried posting longer articles to Facebook and links to those articles on Twitter and other social media sites; but I found, for the most part, those posts were ignored. It made me wonder how anyone could reach people with a message of such great importance as eternal salvation and Biblical doctrine when there are so many frivolous but entertaining posts out there to occupy people's minds.
After some thought, I decided that, perhaps, the best way to reach people with Biblical truth is in little bites that can be read in just a few seconds -- just a few ounces of the milk of the Word. And I hoped that by so doing, the Word of God would have effect and people would become interested enough to consider its teaching and want to learn more. It could even happen that some would be willing to move beyond the tiny messages to longer and more in-depth teaching.
As a result, I started a new Facebook page called BibleByte -- Bible because it is a message from the Bible and byte because it is a small digital measure. Yes, I know I'm not using byte in a strict sense to refer to eight bits and I'm not using it to represent a single letter of character. But I am using it in the sense of short and brief and somewhat in the sense of a bite. You know: "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."
BibleByte is a page "Sharing Scripture and Truth in byte-sized pieces," the page's subhead reads. And that is what I've been trying to do with twice-daily posts. It includes a verse or two from the Bible and a sentence or two in explanation or application. It's still more than one can put in a post on Twitter, but it's amazingly short for me and seems to be working. At least the number of likes and post views is continuing to grow -- maybe not as quickly as I would like, but it is growing and the tiny messages are reaching a few people.
It's been a challenge for someone who writes a lot to try and write only a little. How do you condense into a single sentence a teaching or thought which could fill a book? But that challenge has also been a rewarding one for me as a writer. Keeping up the page is forcing me to slow down and think about each word of Scripture rather than entire paragraphs or chapters. I'm considering and learning things I had skipped over before, and that has been good.
How much good the posts are doing for others I can only guess. How do you measure spiritual growth by page likes and numbers of people reached? You can't. But the page is doing in a small way what Jesus commanded us to do in his Great Commission. It's another way of getting the Word of God out there to people who might not read it if it were presented in bigger bites -- perhaps in megabytes -- and God uses the Word to teach His truth and create and strengthen faith in Christ Jesus. God says His Word will not return to Him empty, without accomplishing His purposes (cf. Isa. 55:10-11).
The page can be found in a Facebook search for BibleByte or by going to www.facebook.com/biblebytepage. For those who do not do Facebook, I'm planning to store all the posts on www.bible-byte.com in the near future. A sample post is included below:
Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, "Behold the Lamb of God!" John 1:35-36 NKJV
While many ministers and churches say, "Follow me," John the Baptist pointed his followers to Jesus because He is the sacrificial Lamb who died to take away the sins of all!
Randy Moll is the managing editor of the Westside Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 06/17/2015