Popular speaker, author and podcaster Sadie Robertson Huff recently urged Christians to use their social media platforms to encourage others to follow Christ.
Robertson Huff, who first rose to fame in the reality TV series “Duck Dynasty,” was a guest speaker along with her husband, Christian Huff, at Passion City Church in Washington, D.C. on Sunday. According to The Christian Post, the couple discussed with the Church’s pastor, Pastor Ben Stuart, strategies for approaching social media as a Christian.
“Jesus speaks to the things that we’re facing when it comes to social media. And it was just kind of funny that Jesus literally used the verbiage when He talks to His disciples to ‘follow Him.’ And I was like, that’s funny because we follow each other all the time,” Robertson Huff said.
“Obviously, it looks so different to follow Jesus than to follow someone on social media. But, I thought maybe if we can incorporate some of the principles and what it looks like to follow Jesus in our life on social media, it would be great,” she continued.
Robertson Huff then pointed to Matthew 5:15 and John 8:12 when she stressed that deleting social media isn’t always the answer for every Christian.
“I think a lot of times, we just go: ‘Well, it’s horrible. Everybody delete it.’ Well, you’re not going to get the whole world to delete social media, and you also don’t want to take the Church out of social media,” she said.
For believers on social media, Robertson Huff said their main priority should be glorifying God by being a light to their followers whenever they share content.
“Don’t delete it. You know, sometimes you need to take a break from it. I actually just did that. But be in it and be the light of the world in it,” Robertson Huff said. “And the same way that people are going to see your light, as they’re scrolling on their feed, people will see your Father through you.”
“I’ve had so many God-stories of things that have happened through Instagram, through social media, Twitter, Facebook YouTube,” she noted. “And so, I don’t think [social media] is necessarily a bad thing. I just think it’s a reflection of how healthy we are. Because social media is what we make it.”
Robertson Huff also shared how, back in high school, she used to portray her life on social media as one way and “that was not exactly how it was behind the scenes.”
“My captions would have a happy ending, but my life didn’t look like the happy ending. My pictures were filtered. But in reality, I was not in the best relationships. [I] didn’t have a lot of great friendships,” she said.
The combination of posting and seeing only curated social media content left the reality star filled with “anxiety, stress, insecurity, uncertainty and [discontentment].”
But as she deepened her walk with God, she realized that she was dishonest on social media and wanted to change that.
“I just remember feeling like I got to take God at His Word. And in doing that, I had to really surrender a lot of things; turn from a lot of things,” Robertson Huff recalled. “Repentance was involved in all of that, and really dive into this Word and understand what is ‘the more?’ What are the promises of God? What did God design me for?'”
“When I began to understand His Word and how to receive those things by being within His Word, and in His Spirit and in His presence, … things started to change for me. … My priorities weren’t worldly anymore. They were of God.”
She then encouraged the congregants to walk “in obedience with the Lord” rather than trying to “live like the world.” To illustrate this point, Robertson Huff explained just as Christians “unfollow, cancel, block, [and] delete” people they dislike on social media, they tend to do the same thing with Christ and His Word.
“I think we can have that tendency with Jesus,” she noted. “It’s like, the minute we don’t like something, or the minute we don’t agree with something in the Word, or something feels off, we’re like ‘unfollow.’ I’m going to follow Him in this area of life, but not in this area of life.’ Or [we say]: ‘I like what He says there, so I’m with You on that, but not in that.’
“And I think this unwillingness to just commit to the Word of God is really showing in how if you’re not committed, you’re not going to get the full fruit of what it’s like to follow Jesus,” she concluded.
Reporting from Christian Headlines.
