Most Christians are nobody. They are unremarkable, ordinary people who spend their lives backstage, never standing in the spotlight. They don’t write blogs, record podcasts, or put videos on YouTube. And they don’t set fire to buildings to protest injustice and evil.

As a Christian who makes a living by striving to be “somebody”, these words comforted me like a hug from a flaming porcupine:

“Everyone feels the need to opine immediately on breaking news, and nine times out of 10 the information base from which they operate is faulty or incomplete. Therefore, what is accomplished is the inflaming of passions, the stoking of emotionally charged responses largely void of thought and any vestige of moral self-restraint. Hot takes strengthen tribalism while blurring our shared humanity.

I no doubt have participated in it. Choosing a part-time career path that involved opinion-writing, I once felt an almost insatiable desire to be among the first to comment on stories, convinced (even if subconsciously) that the world – or at least my world – desperately needed to hear from me. If they heard how I felt about the issue, then they could more properly form their own feelings and responses. Egotistical? No question. But that’s the heart of hot-take culture.

And so for the last several years, not coincidentally years that I have grown deeper and stronger in my relationship with Christ, I have consciously walked away from that approach. I’ve chosen to embrace, however difficult it’s been, the wisdom of Scripture that counsels me be “swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.” My opinion columns usually reflect days-old news, likely preventing them from ever taking off or “going viral.” I’m okay with that.

Rarely, if ever, will my Twitter feed now reveal me commenting on, liking, or retweeting the hot takes of individuals, even if I share the same knee-jerk impulse. That likely makes me a fairly benign, fairly boring follow. I’m okay with that too. Because I’d really like to, as much as is humanly possible when offering opinions on divisive issues, promote peace, and foster mutual respect with those seeing events through a different cultural lens.”

Peter Heck – Writing for Disrn.com

One of the things that Christianity demands is constant self-assessment. Scripture reminds us that God is interested in our attitude as we “do good things.” If I am not paying attention, my ego will take a bow after every act of righteousness.

There is a razor-thin line between standing for truth and grandstanding. I have crossed that line many, many, many times. I echo Peter Heck’s words. I wish I had written them myself. (Tada! That’s my ego shoving itself into the conversation…)

The world doesn’t need to hear what I have to say, unless I’m talking about Jesus. Most Christians are nobody. That’s a good thing. Losing the self is the first step toward becoming a new creation.

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

1 Corinthians 1:26