What is the first thing you want to do when you’re sad or angry? Some people internalise these feelings; others externally express their downcast and frustrated emotions. Social media has become one of the predominant places where people do the latter, turning there to publicly express their emotions. The internet has become a place where people process everything, from rage to disappointment. But should social media be the first place where followers of Jesus express their indignation and hurt, sadness or anxiety? This article will propose a better way for Christians to process their irritation and hurt.
Like the Psalmists, Turn to God in Prayer
One of the beauties of Psalms is that they provide a template of how God’s people processed their emotions. The psalmists were not afraid to boldly express their anger and despondency to God. Psalm 42:3-4 is one example of this. It says: “My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, ‘Where is your God?’ These things I remember as I pour out my soul.”
The psalmists were not afraid to boldly express their despondency to God.
The psalmist writes about the tears of sadness that were his breakfast and supper and how he was mocked. Then, in Psalm 42:4, we read about how he poured out his soul. In other words, he first expressed how he felt to God (Psalm 42:5). He did not go and scream at the city gates for everyone to see and hear how he felt. He turned to his God and Saviour and said, “My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you [God] from the land of Jordan and Hermon, from Mount Mizar” (Psalms 42:6).
Resist Posting Your Emotions on Social Media
So, when you are angry or sad, avoid the immediate temptation of posting how you feel on social media. Instead, “Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret” (Matthew 6:6). Learn to exercise the access you have with your heavenly Father. Talk to him in prayer, and don’t turn to social media. Think about it—when you express your anger and sadness on the internet, you do so to an impersonal object.
When you express anger and sadness on the internet, you’re doing so to an impersonal object.
Your irritation and sadness will remain on the web even though you might get responses from people. But when you process your emotions through prayer, you are doing so to a personal and loving Father, who loves to hear the prayers of his children (Exodus 2:24-25). In your feelings of sadness and anger, strive to turn to God and not to the keypad on your phone.
Turn to Your Christian Community for Support
Another way to express our feelings of despondency and annoyance is to share them with mature brothers and sisters in Christ. When sharing your frustration and hurt with another believer, do it in a way that does not promote gossip. And if you are the person hearing from a despondent brother or sister, promise not to share what they have told you to others. Instead, in confidentiality and trust, bear their burdens.
By settling for a reaction online, we miss opportunities to receive prayers and hugs in person.
Paul exhorts Galatians to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). If you are weighed down with a burden of sadness and frustration, speak to a believer you trust. Share the burden with them by giving them a call or asking them to join you for a walk. Express your anger and disappointment to the living body of Christ and not to the community on social media. Your local church can genuinely sympathise with you in ways social media never will. What is better: praying in person with a fellow believer or getting a heart reaction to your social media post? Praying in person and sharing your uncomfortable emotions is more personal than seeing how many people have viewed your post.
Use the Gifts God Provided
We have grown accustomed to thinking that social media is entitled to every aspect of our lives and deserves the right to be the first recipient of everything that goes on. By doing this, we have substituted the personal for the impersonal. We speak through a machine rather than to the living and personal God. By settling for a reaction or thumbs up online, we miss opportunities to receive prayers and hugs in person. I am guilty of this. But I need to remember that when I am angry or sad—I need to turn to God and the community he has provided in Christ.
Vent to God and the body of believers.
God has given us himself through Christ, and Christ dwells in us through his Spirit and has placed us in a living body of believers. So, in our anger and disappointment, let us vent to our Triune God and the body of believers.
