Christians and Social Media

Introduction

Good morning. I have the microphone moved up on me, so I should be even louder than normal. That’s great news for everyone, isn’t it? This morning, if you will, open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6. Notice Matthew chapter 6, beginning in verse 22. The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he’ll be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

You may have God and mammon. And when you think about this passage, it’s very, it’s a very basic one that teaches us that we need to be careful what we are taking in. We need to be careful what is comprising our thoughts. What are we feeding our mind, our bodies, our souls, most importantly? Because after all, the biblical truth and the reality of life is you are what you take in. After all, you can’t even say a word that you haven’t heard before on purpose, anyway. And you can’t do a lot of things without having first seen them somewhere else. And so it’s vitally important that as Christians, we immerse ourselves in the Word of God. And while I firmly believe that we should immerse ourselves in the Word of God, there is other time throughout the day than just being constantly 24-7 in Bible study, isn’t there?

There’s jobs to do, there’s food to eat, there’s places to drive, people to listen to, people to visit, people to help. Even some Christian obligations involve us not having our heads and minds and eyes in the Holy Scriptures at all times. And while that’s very true, we need to be careful that when we take these other avenues of what we are consuming as a people and allowing our eyes to see and ears to hear and soul to take in, that it is worthy of our time and attention. This morning, I’d like to begin with an illustration. We’re going to speak about social networking and the dangers of that this very morning. Now, last Sunday morning I used an example and I quoted from a character in a sitcom and I attributed his quote from a wrong episode.

So this morning, I have written down what one comedian said. When it comes to taking pictures and being on social networking today, we all do it. And I’m going to get to some statistics in just a few moments. But I want you to consider kind of how funny it really is how we walk around and we take pictures of each and everything, and we post it to our Twitter feeds and our Facebook page and put it on Instagram, and then we get all these ideas from Pinterest. And you see, we’ve kind of removed ourselves from the real world. We keep bouncing around from webpage to webpage, telling everyone all about what we’re doing while no one else really cares. As one comedian said, it’s not as if 10 years ago we were like, I wish I could take a low quality photo of my dessert.

But I guess I’ll just eat it. You see, we’ve gotten so obsessed with this culture that we’ve allowed it to creep up on us in a way that we don’t even understand. Ten years ago, 15 years ago, would it even come to our minds that we should take a picture of our dessert and show everyone around us, even our moms and dads and closest friends, because they care a lot, right? No. But what’s happened? And this is very this is a very important facet to realize with our social networking before we begin the discussion in heart this morning. It’s been a progression. And with all things, especially affronts to the Christian, the most valuable, the most impressive tools of the devil are ones that are gradual, aren’t they?

They’re the ones that slowly chip away at our faith, at our understanding of holiness, and they slowly pull away from the standard of righteousness which we should be living up to. And so now we’ve become so involved in a culture that it’s very common for pictures of dessert to be taken. Now I want to share with you when we talk about social networking, my background is primarily in Facebook. I have other accounts, but I very rarely use them. So if I say things that are Facebook specific, that’s because they probably are. But to get to a couple statistics to give you an idea of how worldwide social media is, when it comes to Facebook, according to Statistic Brain in a July report of this year, there are 1.4 billion Facebook users.

According to a news, uh Yahoo News account, there’s 1.11 billion as of May of 2013. That’s over a billion people have a Facebook account. There’s an excess of 7 billion people on the entire earth, and over 1 billion of them are using Facebook. Not to mention other forms of social media. According to the Pew Research Internet Project, about 74% of online adults have a social media account. What’s the big deal? Why do we all do this? And I’m saying this again, as someone with the Facebook account, what is it about? But before we get there, I want to ask a question. I want to see if the preacher can do some math on the fly here. Raise your hand if you have a social media account, whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, anything like that.

And now for now, raise your hand if you do not have any of the above. We salute you. That’s pretty good. Okay, and we’re thankful for you. But understand that these principles that we will discuss having to do with social networking today apply to both movies, other surfing on the internet, what we take in. It’s all about what we are putting out and what we are taking in. Because if you think about what’s behind social media, it’s about my life and about the lives of others, isn’t it? It’s a representation of what we have. Frankly, starting a social media account consists of really three steps: creating a profile about yourself with some past events and some information, and you post ongoing from there on. You share that information with a number of people that are called friends as it comes to Facebook.

And then the third step is you receive information about others. And while all of that sounds harmless, I’m here to tell you it can be.

1. Be Careful, Little Eyes, What You See

What should it be like, and what should it not have? If you look again at your text in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 22, we see one of the first few universal standards. It’s kind of like the kid’s song that starts with be careful, that it goes like, be careful, little eyes, what you see. Verse 22 says, the eye is the lamp of the body, so if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness. You see, what you see is what you think, and what you think is what you then pursue. And so we must be very careful of what we’re going through.

You see, the thing about social media is it’s not just me, as much as my Facebook page may say that, as much as my Twitter feed may reveal that, it’s about all those people that you are sharing it with. That means if you have signed on with someone and they are your friend, or you are following them on Twitter, or what other catchy words we have for our other social networking sites, you are going to see what they put out there. And so what that means is your eyes are going to be exposed to different parts of life. And again, that can be a good thing, but we better be very careful that those are good things, and we’re not subjecting ourselves to bad things. Look at Philippians chapter 4.

Look at Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8. Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me. Practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Notice what he says in verse 9 on a positive side. What you have learned and received and heard. What was this process? They were subject to his teachings and his practices. They watched him, they heard him, and he was exhorting them to emulate him. It’s another example of something that we know, which is we are what we take in.

And Paul’s calling them to do just that with his fine example. But if you notice in verse 8, we’re supposed to be dwelling on and thinking on things that are worthy of praise. You notice there’s a common thread throughout this list, whatever is true, honorable, pure, lovely, commendable. If there’s any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What’s the tie there? Purity. Holiness. These things don’t cause people to sin. Okay? Things that are true and honorable, pure and lovely, commendable, if there is excellence, if it’s worthy of praise, these are things that will teach us to grow closer to God. These are events, these are pictures, these are words, these are friends, accompaniment, uh, excuse me, our company that comes over.

2. Be Careful, Little Ears, What You Hear

These are people that push us towards God instead of pulling us away from Him. And that’s what we need to consider with our social media. But a second standard, besides on just taking in what you see, is remember be careful little ears, what you you hear. Look with me in Ephesians chapter 5. We’re gonna lay down some of these universal standards and then speak a little bit more specifically. But in Ephesians chapter 5, notice in verse 3. But sexual immorality and all impurity or covet covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness, nor foolish talk, nor crude joking, which are out of place. But instead, let there be thanksgiving. For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure or who is covetous that is an idolater, has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Now skip down to verse 11. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. So when you take Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8, and what we should be dwelling on and focusing on, and you take Ephesians chapter 5 and note these things that we have no business taking in or spitting out, you see that there’s a grave danger in what we do with our eyes and our ears on that free time that we have so much of. And so when we spend our time, when we spend our resources on Facebook and Pinterest and Twitter and all these things, what are we taking in? What are we hearing?

You see, it’s more than just the visual, but what about what people are saying? Have you ever considered that it’s not healthy for a Christian to be watching people bash the president or our elected officials online in an unchristian way? Have you ever considered that being around all the negativity that might pop up on a Facebook page might not be healthy for a Christian who should be giving all thanks and glory to God and be thinking of things that are worthy of praise rather than things worthy of our criticism? You see, there’s a whole lot more than just me signing on and putting my pictures up and talking about my life. I am exposed to other people’s lives too. And so what we need to be very careful of is that we do not get sucked into thinking that this is okay to do.

After all, I’m in the platform of social media. You see, we’re gonna get to a big universal standard momentarily, and that is consider if it was right in front of your face. We like to hide behind a computer screen and a keyboard. And if I type something and put it out there, that it’s okay. If someone types something, I can go on and comment on it and treat this brother in a certain way or the sister in a certain way, and it’s not the same as if I did it face to face. It’s not the same as they were looking at me. But that’s not true. It is the same. Whether you think it or not, we are communicating with people. And the bottom line is you are sending a message or receiving one, whether it’s through an online medium, a telephone, or face-to-face.

3. Be Careful, Little Mouth, What You Say

And we have to be very careful that our Christian influence and our Christian purity and holiness not only isn’t damaged on our side, but we’re not taking in the filth and the garbage that the world finds perfectly fine and natural. One final universal standard, in addition to be careful what your little eyes see and be careful what your little ears hear, is be careful, little mouth, what you say. I hope you’re open to Ephesians 5. Now look at verse 25. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

You see, a Christian doesn’t violate these principles. A Christian doesn’t violate their holiness or their purity just to keep in touch with an old friend, although that’s a good and worthy thing to be doing in some cases. It’s not about this life. It’s not about conformity, it’s not about fitting in. Whether everyone in the world, whether that statistic was 98% of people have social networks on their computer and they have a login for it, or that number is 1%. As Christians, we need to do whatever is in the best interest of our souls. Period. And so when we consider that we need to be very careful with what we say and the type of things that we’re putting out there for people to view us as, and the things that we hear and the things that we see, we need to realize that so many internet issues would be resolved if we just considered, would I do this publicly?

Remember those three standards. Be careful, little eyes, what you see, hear, and say. When it comes to what you see, can I ask you a question in a personal way about what you post on Facebook? Those pictures that you put out there that are public, that there are for everyone to see who can sign on to your account, would you be happy and fine if I put them up on the screen? Would you feel fine? Would you be happy if you sent that message in private to me? I sometimes think we would be very scared and very worried, and we would shy away from sending it to someone personally or putting it up somewhere publicly in a building like this or for our Christian friends to see.

But can I tell you a secret? You can see it if you’re friends with someone, and sometimes even if you’re not. It’s not private, it’s not secret, and it does reflect back on you. I said before, America has this weird fixation, and I think the world today does, with wearing underwear to the beach and to go swimming. It’s code-worded bikinis or bathing suits, but it’s underwear. And when we post our pictures on there, would we be perfectly fine with people seeing us like that in real life? If there was no laws against it, would you go to the store dressed like that? I certainly hope as a Christian that we would uphold purity and holiness and not not only fit in with the world, but be on the more coarse and trashy side of it.

You see, as Christians, we we don’t escape our Christianity, our obligation to God by signing into a web page. And that also goes to what we hear. That is what we say, perhaps in a text. It’s just as wrong to attack someone’s character to their face and to the church behind their back as it is to put it out publicly. You know what I see a lot of sometimes on Facebook or what I call uh veiled insults? Someone’s upset at something, and it’s probably someone that can see this post, and they say these really rude and mean things that they want the people to see, but then they can point back and say, I didn’t point any fingers, I didn’t name any names. Would you say that to the person themselves?

Would you say that in front of this group of people? Should we even be saying that type of negative things and having that type of negative outpouring from our social page that represents us anyway? You see, no one’s fooled, no one’s mocked, and most importantly, God is not. He sees how we act, he sees how we are when it comes to what we say and what we hear and what we see and put out there. Notice that we’re going to give an account for that. But far more than that, consider with me this morning, if we did pull up your page, if I was looking at it, would you like the way it represents you? Would you be content for me to see where you spend your time, how you talk about others, how you talk about our elected officials, how you talk about your lifestyle, and what type of pictures you post and gifts that you give and get.

4. Be a Light and Confess the Name of Christ

See, because that’s what a page really is. When you have a Twitter feed or a Facebook page, it’s about you. It’s about your thoughts, your mind. We have a great platform. I’m gonna get to how we should use that in just a moment. But consider, are you happy with how it represents you? Can someone look at that and say, that’s a follower of God? Because our life should be that way, shouldn’t they? Look at me in Matthew chapter 5. You know the passage beginning in verse 13, Matthew chapter 5. You are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost his taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and scrampled under people’s feet.

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others. Why? So that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. Does a page that does nothing but complain, or even occasionally complains, or occasionally posts pictures that are unbecoming of a Christian, of someone who’s striving for a life of purity and holiness? Does that lead others to glorify God? And if the answer is no, we should consider what we are doing with this wonderful opportunity. I made the point at the beginning, there’s roughly over a billion, there’s likely over a billion Facebook users based on statistics that we have.

Do you realize that we have an almost unprecedented way to reach out and to be lights into the world? You talk about a light that set up a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Imagine something that could reach a billion people, or even a hundred million, or even a couple thousand. How often do you walk around and have a platform of a thousand people? You may get up here on a Wednesday night or on a Sunday morning like I’m doing, be able to talk to maybe 200, sometimes we have 250, a little under 300. And that’s a lot of people that I could reach in one day. But just by posting something on my Facebook page, if you have 700 friends, that’s at least 700 people, roughly who could see it.

Do you realize what an example, what a choice that we can make out of our Facebook page? We can be glorifying God. You can be posting sermons, posting uplifting quotes, posting what you’re thankful for rather than what you’re unthankful for. If you walked around and you kept telling people, oh, I’m so upset, my doctor always messes me up, and oh, I’m just so sick and tired of our governor or our president doing this and that, and I’m just so sick and tired. You know, someone would tell you, go to bed if you’re so sick and tired. Okay? You would we would not put up, yeah, you got it now. We would not put up with that type of negativity like that. We wouldn’t. We would think that person is very needs to need to turn their life around.

They need to be thankful for what God has done for them. And you know what? Our social media is a way to show thankfulness. It’s a way to be a light. And so what we want to consider next is that we can express ourselves. We can be an example for God. We can be uplifting. We can encourage people to think on spiritual things. We can post things that are worthy, that are of good report, that are just and holy. You see, we can help people fulfill their obligation in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 8. Non-Christians and Christians alike. We can do that. And you know what the beauty is, it only takes a few seconds. The other thing we can do is stand up and confess the name of Christ.

Look with me in Matthew chapter 10. There’s a very important admonition here that we should not take for granted that we just do. In Matthew chapter 10, beginning in verse 32. Jesus says, So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. It’s not enough just to be a closet Christian. You see, there is no such thing. A Christian is a light, and a light cannot be hidden in a world of darkness. But you consider what he says. So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven. We need to be acknowledging, proclaiming, confessing the name of Christ to anyone and everyone who will listen, shouldn’t we?

We think about that all the time, and then we go home, we log on our Facebook and go back to playing games, looking at what other people are doing, allowing this great opportunity for evangelism and being a light to the world slip through our fingers and let time winding off the clock. You see, we can be doing so many things. We can be teaching others the gospel. And it doesn’t have to be your teaching. You know what the beauty of social media is? You can copy and paste people’s sermons and put their name attached to it. If Brother D. Bowman preaches a fantastic lesson and it’s posted online somewhere, put his name, put the church website, and put the video up there for people to watch.

You don’t even have to do that part. What’s the fear? What’s the problem? What’s the holdup of using this great resource for good? You see, we’re uh the sermon is going to go back to some of the negatives and the fears of social networking, and we’ve had a lesson about TVs and movies and how we should be careful. But you know what? There’s a great opportunity for good in them. And so we should use that and not just sit back and say, it’s fine for me to have it because there’s potential for good. Potential is not pleasing to God. Action on that potential is what is pleasing to God. After all, think about the parable of the talents in Matthew chapter 25. It’s not that he could have doubled his wealth.

5. Be an Encouragement to Friends

The man with one talent, what happened? He buried it. Was the Lord pleased with him? No. Potential didn’t matter. The other two men showed that there was potential for good to be done. Potential is not good enough. Action, obedience, holiness and righteousness is what the Lord expects from us. And that’s what we need to press on to. But I want to get to one other good thing that we can do. Not only can we express ourselves for Christ and evangelize, but we can be an encouragement to friends. Look with me at Romans chapter 12. Look with me in Romans chapter 12. And as you’re turning there, I want to refresh our memory as we’re going. We need to be careful what we see and what we hear and what we say.

But what we do say and what we can put out there for people to hear, and maybe for people to copy and think to themselves and spread to friends, can be evangelism. It can be expressing ourselves in a positive way, and it can even be encouraging. Notice Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12, beginning in verse 7. Excuse me, verse 6. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. If prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts in his exhortation, the one who contributes in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. Notice verse 10. Love one another with brotherly affection, outdo one another in showing honor.

Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope. Be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Verse 15, rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. You know, it’s kind of hard to do all of that in three hours on Sunday morning. I can I take it a step further. It’s a lot harder to do that in one hour on Sunday morning. It’s kind of difficult to do it over four hours over the course of a week when we’re all gathered together. I can tell you by math and by common sense, it’s a whole lot harder to encourage your fellow saints and rejoice with them when they rejoice and weep with them when they weep when you’re only here for an hour once a week.

We have this great ability to communicate with one another. We have this fantastic opportunity and platform to not only evangelize, and we think about evangelism is to non-Christians, but we can be encouraging to our fellow Christians. You know, the beauty of social media is people do put stuff about them. And I may be thankful that I got a good prognosis from the doctor, or I may be in need of prayers. And that’s a time for you to see that and be able to comfort me. If you post something about how you need encouragement, I can be there for you. I can give you a call after seeing that. I can write you a card. I can even write a text in response to you right there on the spot.

6. Three Dangers: Time, Too Much You, Too Much Others

But again, I ask, do we actually use it that way? Do we commit ourselves to being a servant of God even on the internet? And sometimes I think that we forget that, at least if you’re like me. But I want to get to three dangers of social media before we uh end this lesson this morning. I don’t think about it back in Ephesians chapter five, if you’ll turn back there with me. Notice in verse 15, a key admonition to us with our daily schedules and our rigid planners and trying to fit in time, consider Ephesians chapter 5. Look carefully in verse 15. Then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

We need to redeem our time. You know, the fact about social media is it will absorb as much time as you want to feed it with. It has a never ending appetite for your time. And again, you can do a whole lot of good with it, but can I ask you a question? Just because, even if you were using it to its fullest capacity for good, isn’t there still a place for service in person of someone? I want to commend Brother John Stow among others who organized an effort to go and help Brother John Bill. I believe they fixed his ramp this Saturday. Is that right, Brother John? And they did fix his ramp. That’s something that can’t be done from behind a computer screen. And yes, there’s good to be done, and yes, we deserve, we could use some recreation time to charge ourselves up to do more service towards God and to earn money for our families and to take care of the house and the kids.

I get that. But there’s also work to be done. Meals can’t be transferred online. Now you can’t order it for someone online, but that’s a different discussion. If you want to make a cake for someone, you can’t ship it through the internet, but you can bring it to their house. Or you can pay for someone, but that again, different discussion with social networking. We need to consider that we need to be Christians both online and offline. And that means living a life that says, you know what? There are people in need in a physical, real way this day. And if I get off the computer screen for two hours, I could go and sing to someone, bring them something, write them a card, write ten people a card.

I can do all that in the time that I would otherwise be mindlessly surfing and going, oh, picture, picture, like that. Tweeted that. Do you realize how much good for the kingdom is wasted by people who are spend all their time on social networking? And the truth is, I’m guilty of that too. We all are. Time slips away from us, doesn’t it? That’s part of Paul’s admonition. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. The days are evil, so we have to redeem the time. It takes a concerted effort to do it. It’s not going to happen if we mindlessly just say, Oh, I need to be doing good this week.

Oh, I need to get off Facebook this week. We’ve got to say, I’m going to spend this time doing this. I’m going to spend that time helping out the Lord and his people. I am a servant of God first. I have obligations to my friends and family second, and I will take care of my needs third. See, a Christian, a Christian’s life is turned upside down from what the world preaches about. Take care of yourself. And that’s when I want to get to the second danger, is too much you. Have you ever considered that how you that some people might not care what you’re eating for dessert? That some people might not care that you drove and you’re stuck at a stoplight for 30 seconds. If you go back and look at people’s Twitter feeds and their Facebook pages and you look at some of their posts, some I get a whole lot of this.

I don’t care. For all the good that’s to be done, we post a whole lot of stuff that’s not necessarily bad, it’s just a waste of my time. It’s a waste of others’ time. But what does it say about me when I’m always putting out there what I think, what I feel, what I desire, instead of what the Lord wants, what I should be doing for the Lord in all these different circumstances. Again, there is a time and a place to use it effectively and even use it socially and recreationally. But if it’s consistent and constant, if I pulled it up there and it was a whole lot of complaints or a whole lot of things that no one else should care about, why are you putting it out there?

Why are you representing yourself and the Lord in that way? One final point. Perhaps there’s too much others. Perhaps sometimes we take in a little too much about what other people think, and most importantly, what other people think about us. Consider with me, Philippians chapter 2, and the lesson will be yours. Philippians chapter 2. Beginning in verse 1. So if there’s any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form. He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross. You know what a lot of people do, and that we can fall into a trap with social media is we’ll put all that out there because we want people to like what I said. We want people to tell me, you’re right, I got your back. Yeah, those stoplights are annoying. That doctor did fail. The president is bad. And we like the encouragement that comes from that.

Conclusion

Do you realize that if we used that power, that train, that momentum from others towards Christ, what good could be potentially done for the kingdom? Rather than what negativity could be done for my ego. When you put something online, do you put it because you want people to see it and to just be absorbed with how great you are, how good looking you are, how wonderful and charmed your life must be? Or is it something about communicating with someone? Is it about being a Christian? Is it about being a family man, a friend, a husband, a wife, a parent or a child? Are we presenting Christ in a good way, even online, or even at every moment of the day, making the best use of the time?

Please pray with me. Our dear God and most gracious Heavenly Father, we praise you for your greatness. You are the one true and living God. Thank you for blessing us with all the tools and the knowledge that we have. And we pray, dear God, that we always expand them and explore on them as you would have us do, and to use them to your glory and to your benefit. Forgive us when we stumble and when we do wrong. Forgive us when we look on others with jealousy and want others to look at us and to puff us up with pride. Lord, rid us of the pride. Help us to be humble servants of you, seeking to be just like the Christ, fulfilling your will. Dear Lord, forgive us when we do wrong and help us to always serve you to the best of our abilities.

Since in your Son’s name we do pray. Amen.