Our Living Resume*

I’ve been giving bad church signs a hard time lately—as I should. There’s a huge part of me that wants to march into some of these churches and talk with who is responsible. You know, ask them a few questions about the message they are trying to send, and the actual message that I am receiving. My friend, Dana, suggested that we just go out one night and commit some church sign sabotage. We could hit the town with our own bag of black letters and have at it. I have to admit, the proposition was very tempting.  Some people want to buy the world a coke; I want to rearrange bad church signs. Of course, I might have a run-in with the real sign maker because you never actually see them working on the sign. It’s like Charlotte’s Web. All this got me thinking about the messages that we portray. My last bad church sign article was titled, “Here’s Your Sign,” alluding Bill Engvall's stand up act. But these days, we really don’t need someone to give us our sign. Each Tweet, Instagram, or Facebook post is just like our own billboard advertisement.  So let me ask you, what is the message that you are trying to send about yourself, and what do you think the message is that your followers are receiving? This may be more important than you think. I will reveal another part of my inner-dorkiness to add to my point…Sometimes I listen to the John Tesh radio show. I’m a total sucker for the latest in research statistics on everything that does and doesn’t matter in life. Sometimes when I’m returning home from school with the kids I will say, “Let’s get some Intelligence For Our Lives.” Anyway, I’m confessing this so I can use some of his material. Did you know that there is such a thing as a Facebook score? According to John Tesh:

Researchers recently created “Facebook scores”, which are modeled after credit scores. Except, instead of being rated on how likely you are to pay your bills, you’re rated on how good of an employee you’ll be. So, how exactly are Facebook scores calculated? Computer software scours every detail on your profile, from your friend list to your favorite TV shows. They you’re rated against top worker qualities - like conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness. The higher your score, the more likely you’ll be a superstar worker.

I turns out that these ratings were right on when Facebook scores were compared to job evaluations. Interesting. And not only that, in the future our online reputations may even determine whether or not we can qualify for a loan. What kind of Facebook Score do you think you would receive? I don’t think that the bad church sign offenders really want to come off as cheesy or as totally missing the theological mark. But I have to admit that I’m keeping score. Maybe behavior will begin to change some on the internet when people learn that they are racking up a cyber-reputation that will affect their future goals. Who knows. But are we thinking about what our billboard messages are advertising about us now? Of course these are casual settings, so we can post about casual happenings. But if you were to look at all your posts together, what do they say about you? Why should we care about what others think of us? Well, the ability to land a job or a loan are valid reasons, but not the most important. Wherever I am, I’m not only representing myself. As a married woman, I also represent my husband. After all, I bear his name. What I post is not only a reflection of myself, but a reflection of us, the Byrds. This is another way that marriage symbolizes the union of Christ and his church. Since I am also part of the bride of Christ, I represent him as well. Those church signs are so offensive to me because they represent Christ’s church. But so do we—and we plaster signs all over the cyber-world. I pretty much know my husband well enough to represent him well in the decisions I make for our family and in my everyday interactions. Can we say the same about Christ? Do we know him well enough from what he has revealed in his Word to represent him truthfully as his bride? Would our Facebook Score be congruent with Christ’s character?   *I borrowed the title from this link.