​Many Christians enjoy being involved in social media. It's an interesting way to meet other people, share opinions, and try to encourage others. But social media, for the good it can do, can also be a place of discouragement, negativity, and ill will.

A general rule is to remember that many people won't hesitate to publish something to social media that they would never say to another person face to face. It's important to have discipline when it comes to social media with what you share and how you participate. 

First, be careful not to get drawn into arguments. Some people take to social media out of frustration with their own lives. It becomes a place for them to publish provocative statements intended to draw responses and begin arguments. 

​Remember that we are called to be bright lights in a world of darkness (Philippians 2:15). Our light is dimmed when we engage in arguments on social media that will convince no one. It is better not to be drawn into these than to participate thinking that you will convince someone. 

Second, realize what you post reflects on you as a Christian. If you post on Sunday about your church experience but then post on Monday about an annoying person at work, on Wednesday about another negative opinion about people in the supermarket, and again on the weekend about the great parties you attended (with pictures), what does your feed reflect about your own Christianity? 

Christians are to be witnesses in our daily lives to the glory of God (1 Peter 2:9-10). Your witness to others can be damaged by what you post in social media.

Third, ask yourself what your social media profile indicates about you? Are you overly political? A family person? Interested in spiritual things? Argumentative? Social media, although existing online, depicts an actual real presentation of ourselves. As Christians, we must think about what we are presenting to the world about not only ourselves but also about our faith.

​The apostle Paul teaches that our conversation should always be full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that we will know how to answer everyone (Colossians 4:6). It is hard to have a kind, seasoned disposition if our social media feed is argumentative or unwelcoming. 

Likewise, Peter advises that we should always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks about our the hope we have, but to do so with gentleness and respect (1 Peter 3:15). We should always express ourselves with grace. It will be our example of respect and "quietness," relative to the "noise" of others, that will be remarkable in our witness in social media.

Use social media, enjoy your interactions, and learn. But practice discipline and consider how you are presenting yourself and your faith through how you participate.

Many Christians struggle with spiritual growth. They know they should grow in faith and by the Spirit in a way that would be described as Christ-like. Yet, they don't know how to do this. The Christian life, amidst anxiety, stress and apathy seems overwhelming. What is a Christian to do?

Christians must find a balance between outflow and intake. If we are to have an intake of spiritual growth activities, we must create an outflow of things that take up space in our lives but do not help us move forward in grace.

For example, spend less time with news. Many Christians get caught up in the endless, 24/7 news cycle, especially in election seasons. Much of the news is designed to draw people in, create anger, and create dependency so people are continually checking back to see what, if anything, they have missed. If a Christian is already stressed out or apathetic about their faith, being bombarded with a message that intends to anger or create hopelessness will not help them grow in Christ-likeness.

Similar to this is to spend less time with social media. Social media has a purpose when it connects us to our social circles, but it can quickly be abused and can become a time sink. Sadly, many Christians use such services to seek validation in terms of how many "likes" or "retweets" they receive on their postings. Time saved from lessening one's interaction with social media can be used to positively move forward in action.

A final outflow to create in your life is to spend less time with "vampire" activities and people. A "vampire" activity or person is anything or anyone in your life that creates a negative or useless energy. What hobbies or activities are you involved in that take up a lot of time and add no value to your life? Which people do you spend time with that constantly complain and bring you down, rather than build you up? Christians cannot be expected to have no hobbies or involvement in activities, but such involvement should at least bring a positive mindset as a result of their involvement.

Next, after creating an outflow of activities, Christians should replace those activities through an intake of positive, faith-building activities.

Christians should spend more time with their Bibles. This almost goes without saying, and with the availability of Bibles today, including apps and web availability, no Christian has an excuse not to have access to a Bible.

Spend more time reading your Bible. You should have a daily habit of interacting with the Bible in some way. You do not have to read for hours, but what can you do to read something? Never feel like even a small bit read is not enough. Bible reading is cumulative, and a little a day over a long time goes a long way. As the old saying goes, "Take up and read."

In connection with this, spend more time meditating on the word, seeking application. We are not seeking information from the Bible; we are seeking transformation. Transformation occurs when we let the word of God penetrate our hearts in meditation, showing us the application of his word. It is then up to us to apply it.

Thus, spend more time being a doer of the word (and not a hearer only). Jesus clearly teaches us that to hear God's word, and do nothing about it, is to be foolish (Matthew 7:24-27). James agrees with this when he writes that we should doers of the word, and not hearers only (James 1:22-25). Bible reading, combined with meditation on our reading, will lead us to action. Let us act in accordance with what we know.

As individual believers, spending more time in Bible reading and prayer should be our top goal. But these activities will lead us to desire greater interaction with other believers.

Therefore, let us spend more time praying for other believers (Ephesians 1:15-23 and 3:14-21). This is different than praying for ourselves. We ought to be regularly thinking about others and praying for their spiritual growth. Such prayer will help us stay connected with one another.

As we pray for other believers, we will be encouraged to spend more time with other believers. This is fellowship. Together, we can encourage one another to be faithful, to grow in Christ, and to become stronger disciples.

Finally, we can spend more time with other believers, serving others. The natural growth of a follower of Jesus is outward. As we read and meditate on the Bible, pray for other believers, and spend time together in fellowship, we will realize that our faith is pushing us to go to others. Whether in evangelism or service, we will reach out to bring the good news to others.

Christians who follow these steps will grow in grace. They will create more time for godly activities, and by doing those activities, they will grow in grace and godliness, joining together in fellowship, as knowledge is gained and shared, transformation is experienced, prayer is offered, and service is given.

Preachers and teachers are artisans. We are crafters. Much like woodworkers or other creators, we take raw material and craft it into something that speaks to others. Our "raw material" is the Bible; our tools are our study times and areas; and our creations (lessons) speak into the lives of others. 

But crafting the lesson takes work. It is the work that is rewarding, because in the work we find an outlet for both our creative and analytic capacities, as well as an outlet for presenting an aesthetic to others.

The aesthetic speaks to others, not only because of the talent of our work, but because of the synergy that exists between our work of study and the work of the Spirit. It is oddly ironic that our work results in speech, but is received by hearing.

How do we craft such lessons that speak powerfully to those who hear them? Many preachers and teachers have read books  advocating that they spend hours in their study, poring over lexicons and grammars, delving into commentaries, and reading blogs and social media, searching for insights.

But for the busy teacher, especially for those who teach or preach multiple times a week, how do we go about crafting lessons amidst the business of our schedules?

Start with three things to spend less time doing to create more time for your craft, then move to four things to spend more time on (the actual work of your craft).

First, spend more time with your Bible than with the news (or talk radio). If you added up the amount of time you spend daily either listening to news, watching news, or reading blogs and websites (or newspapers) about news, how would this compare to the amount of time you spend daily with your Bible?  Substitute an audio Bible for talk radio in your car; spend an equal amount of time reading the Bible with your family for the amount of time that you watch news; or cut out most news altogether. 

All Bible reading is cumulative and builds upon each other. Your reading does not have to be directly in service of your crafting of lessons; it will all serve that goal as you focus on your intake of the Bible.

Second, spend more time with your Bible than with blogs and other social media. How much do you spend daily reading various blogs (do you have an RSS reader?), surfing Facebook, or scrolling through Twitter or Instagram? Much of social media is about validation seeking, and when you discipline yourself to apply your time to your craft, your validation will be your own when you present the fruits of your labor to others.

Third, spend more time with your Bible than with commentaries. Commentaries can be a crutch. Many busy or frustrated teachers read through a text once, if at all, then pick up a commentary to tell them what it means. Other lazy preachers will skim through commentaries looking for illustrations to shape their lessons around. These are not crafters; these are hacks. 

The first three points will help you create space and reduce noise in order to do the work. The last four points will teach you how to do the actual work.

Fourth, in the time you've gained by lessening the above three things, take your Bible and read, re-read it, and re-read it again (especially the texts you are working on). There is nothing like re-reading the text you are working on. Take an hour on Monday and read through your upcoming sermon text repeatedly. Take notes. Use multiple translations. Read it out loud. Listen to it read to you.

Fifth, spend more time asking questions of the text than leaping to your first insight. What is happening? What is the flow, or shape, of the passage? What is the high point? What did you miss the first several times you read it through? Why did you miss that? What is uncomfortable about this passage? Why? The answers are always in the questions. 

Sixth, spend more time outlining the text, based on your own understanding of it, after asking questions and long before consulting commentaries. In your outline, look for emerging patterns, main points, and key words. Flesh those out with the use of a concordance. Begin to see for yourself how the text fits together and what it is saying. 

Seventh, follow this slogan: "Be quick to read, slow to outline, slower to read commentaries." Trust yourself and the Spirit to understand God's word. Take time to read, to ask questions, to outline, to pray, to meditate on the word. 

I am not discounting the value of research or commentaries, but the experience of those who too quickly abandon doing the work of crafting lessons. As ministers of God, we minister his Word to others. Is it not worth taking the time to become word-workers of the Bible?

In my experience, a quality lesson can be crafted in 8-10 hours a week, give or take more time depending on number of lessons taught each week and other responsibilities. A true crafter would not rush through their work as a habit; we show ourselves to be a crafter or a hack by our approach to the work.

Let the lesson emerge from your work, not from your initial burst of creativity or vision. I have, many times, begun a lesson with an idea, only to have to change the idea upon further work. We go where the work leads us. 

Much like a woodworker does the work by taking wood and creating furniture out of it or carving an intricate relief pattern into it, by doing the work we craft lessons that bring a beautiful aesthetic to those who have ears to hear, and who build it in to the tapestry of their lives.

Do the work.