Thermometers tell the temperature.
Thermostats regulate the temperature.
I want to be a thermostat.

I want to turn the heat down, not simply report the heat. Even from a quick purview of social media, it seems that all around me (not at my local church, thank the Lord!) the temperature has been rising over any number of issues. Angst is everywhere. Anxiety, fear, anger and worry drive people into heated corners. People are venting. Rhetoric is high. It’s hot. 

I don’t want to add to the rising social media temperatures. I don’t want to report on every heat-producing juicy detail, and in so doing keep the fires smoldering. I want to be like a thermostat and lower the temperature.

How does one turndown the social media and conversational (read: gossip) heat?

• Accept that you don’t have all the facts. You might think you have all the facts, you probably don’t.
• Acknowledge there are two sides to every story. Usually there are more than two sides.
• Avoid rumors. Remember the “telephone game” in youth group? It starts with “I love red jelly beans” and after going through several people ends with “There are monkeys in the trees.” In other words, the beginning story and the ending story have nothing to do with each other. It happens in real life. Don’t believe everything you hear. 
• Don’t demonize one another. People can disagree. On pretty big theological and biblical positions, people can differ; but that does NOT make either person a demon. The other may share your eternal accommodations. Be careful to demonize those that Jesus loves.  
• Limit your social media vacuum. People tend to follow (and so only hear) like-minded people. We all do it. Just acknowledge that good people might disagree with the viewpoint on which you are constantly exposed.
• Ask yourself: Do my posts, language usage, and tone reflect Jesus or do they add to the heated rhetoric?
• Above all: Love. Be compassionate, kind, gentle and patient. 

Be a thermostat. Help turn down the heat, don’t add to it. 

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12