April 2012

by Ramesh Richard

twitterYou’ve heard about “Twitter.” Ever tweeted? I used to think only birds did that: chirp, tweet and chatter.

Twitter connects “followers’” with “pursuers” through real-time bursts of information (usually 140 characters long). At a superficial level, silly “bites” of information are sent to followers—like, “I’m drinking Costa Rican coffee this morning.” At a more substantive level, social media (Twitter, Facebook and YouTube) may have played a fast, simple and tactical role in mobilizing people to overturn Middle-Eastern dictators.

I am still not convinced about equating the efficiencies of “tweeting” with effectiveness. Perhaps, it merely serves as a marketing tool to create “brand awareness.” Though wide in its scope, it doesn’t seem to be deep in its reach. And yet contemporary wisdom says we can’t live without it!

I’ve tweeted for about two years. Some are mundane, like “just landed” in Dallas, Dubai, Durban or Delhi. Reflective one-liners seem to benefit friends and followers. Usually framed around my devotional feeding, I start a tweet with “#I’m learning that ….” The # symbol, a young friend advised me, is a “hashtag,” so people can mark keywords, categorize messages, and retweet!

Without presuming exaggeration on your part in following me, I attempt to add weight to a shallow tool; substance to a skeleton; gravity to levity with deeper messages to share growth in the spiritual life.

Here are some tweets*, 10 learnings about God, the Spiritual Life and Leadership. I hope they will be refreshing to you. Remember to begin each one with “#I’m learning that…”

About God

  1. While my experience conflicts with theology, God’s silence is not impotence; God’s distance is not absence
  2. God’s distance in presence & action is NOT for geographical but historical reasons…just biding His time
  3. God’s near-presence 2 us is critical, 4 other religions do offer God’s far off & high up help. Is that help at all?
  4. From Ps.22:21b God’s answers r found from INSIDE, “the horns of r existential dilemmas,” not only from outside! He is near & now
  5. God’s Person & Purpose relate to individuals & generations; with national & global, even cosmic intent/extent
  6. The quality of God’s gracious intervention includes its TIMING, discernible only by hindsight
  7. God’s intrinsic qualities are not only Holy & Love, but also Joy & Beauty. Might God be joyful? Beautiful?
  8. God doesn’t necessarily equate “supernatural” with “spectacular.” Heart-change is supernatural, but often God’s slow work.
  9. God doesn’t necessarily equate “supernatural” with “spectacular.” Something quite natural (a sunset) can be spectacular!
  10. When I pray, I shall not 1) doubt, 2) test, 3) manipulate or 4) obligate God. Or else, I am just making noises to myself

About the Spiritual Life

  1. When I trust any other object as God, I am a functional syncretist
  2. When I attempt to manipulate God in any way, I am a functional legalist
  3. When I don’t have faith in God, I am a functional deist
  4. When I am prayerless, I am a functional atheist
  5. Every blessing on earth comes with its own battles–of appropriate stewardship in gratitude & responsibility
  6. Prayerful thot & active listening to God with His Word & a notebook outlines next steps in life & ministry
  7. The Spiritual Life in a single line: “intentional relationship with the Trinity built & framed by Scripture”
  8. I should b of SINGLE standard, speech & spirit. Not of DOUBLE-heart, mind or morals
  9. Most of life is a Faith-walk with Christ, rather than a sight-walk by circumstance
  10. God takes me on a long & tedious planned route 2 get my heart ready & able 2 receive the desires of my own heart

About Leadership

  1. I don’t wish 2 lead; I may not want 2 lead; but God has worked on my heart and moved on my will 2 lead. So I will 2 serve UP as a leader
  2. It’s 1 thing 2 serve; but much more 2 suffer in order 2 serve. The former is necessary; the latter is Christ’s leadership
  3. I’m learning that while it is not always right to do the hard thing; it is always hard to do the right thing, and in the right way
  4. 3 INTERNAL realities of leadership: 1) loneliness! 2) busyness! 3) tiredness!
  5. 3 EXTERNAL realities a leader must face: 1) uncertainty, 2) ambiguity, 3) complexity
  6. “Never stop learning” includes “never stop UNlearning!”
  7. The 1st responsibility of leadership is to think, which for Christian leaders means “to prayerfully think”
  8. The 2nd responsibility of leadership is to decide, which for Christian leaders means “to prayerfully decide”
  9. The 3rd responsibility of leadership is to act, which for Christian leaders means “to prayerfully act”
  10. My ministry appointment is by God’s grace, and I carry out my assignment by God’s power (Eph. 3:7)

I better stop here. When the Lord Jesus eventually asks what I did on earth, I don’t want to claim thousands of tweets to thousands of followers! But my offices tell me you can sign up for my occasional bursts of disclosure and bites of learning at twitter.com/rameshrichard.

I would love to keep in touch with you on the twittersphere.

Our very brains, neuroscientists say, are being rewired with the rise of social media. I think, however, the Bible had its own tweets of memorable and life-giving forms in the Proverbs, Psalms and God’s promises strewn all over its pages. Your very soul is being rewired, actually is being transformed, by the renewing of your mind, as you receive and apply God’s microbursts of information. Maybe we should all go back to the old habit of memorizing Scripture, God’s eternal tweets to His followers.

*Tweets are 140 characters long, so in order to get your point across, you have to use abbreviated language. For instance, substitute the word “two” with the number “2”.