Increased Numbers = Increased Responsibility

15. July 2009 by Annette Colon-Alvarenga.

When I started my blog back in April of this year, I did it simply as a place to express my thoughts, my struggles and the Word as God revealed it to me through my daily devotionals.  I shared the blog with friends and family and didn’t really expect much more than that. Then in May I registered this domain and began tracking visitors to the site. First I would get just 40-50 visitors each week. Then that went up to 100-200 per week. Now, two months later, I am averaging between 800-900+ visitors to the blog each week.

I never expected to get this many visitors to the blog. Even though I haven’t written anything in the last few weeks, I am still averaging 800+ unique visitors each week. This is incredible. And being the analytical person that I am, I started thinking about what this means in terms of what people are searching for on the internet and what a tremendous responsibility this places on me with regards to the content presented in this blog.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I do have some fears. And one of my greatest fears is of not presenting the Word of God properly. The idea of misrepresenting God’s Word terrifies me. It does so to the point that I am very careful about what authors I read (I actually research the authors) and I take many notes during sermons, conferences and classes and later double check the scripture verses presented to make sure that what I am being taught conforms to God’s Word. I understand that what I am learning, I will eventually be teaching and I gotta make sure I get it right. (Okay, I’ll admit that I can be a little extreme sometimes.)

In 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul instructs Timothy to, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” Presenting the gospel message is a task that can never be taken lightly. With the internet, videos on demand and MP3 downloads available 24/7, Christians have an opportunity to present the message of the Cross to hundreds of thousands each year by a simple push of a button. But we need to be so very careful that we are handling the word of truth correctly. What an incredible opportunity we have to present the Son of God, the message of salvation through faith in Christ to a world searching for answers. And my weekly statistics show that they are definitely searching.

While you may not be presenting a message or your view point on a blog or journaling on the internet, your daily life either correctly handles the word of truth or it doesn’t. The people you deal with on a daily basis and run across each day are equivalent to “visitors” to a website. Your husband or wife, your children, the cashier at the checkout stand, your co-workers, your boss, they see your gestures, hear your words, and notice even your most insignificant actions and reactions. The question is, what are they reading when they look at you? Is it the gospel of truth or is it a false gospel?

I am committed to making sure that the content presented in my blogs conforms to the truth of God’s Word. But we all share the responsibility of doing the same in our daily walk. And the more people you deal with daily, the greater the responsibility.

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