Courtney Speaks

photo credit: alicepopkorn ( in and out )Continuing on with my series of posts on Incorporating Christian Values into Your Blog today is all about longsuffering.  Colossians 3:12 tells us “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;“.  As believers in Christ, the elect of God, we are to put the bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness, meekness, and longsuffering.  Past posts in this series discuss the meanings of these virtues and how we can blend them into our blogging.

Longsuffering is the last virtue listed in Colossians 3:12 and therefore the last post in this series, although I am sure I will discuss other Christian characteristics in the future as well. In Colossians 3:12 the greek word makrothumia is used for longsuffering, which simply means patience.

According to the Random House Dictionary the word patience has several different meanings:

1. the quality of being patient, as the bearing of provocation, annoyance, misfortune, or pain, without complaint, loss of temper, irritation, or the like.
2. an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay: to have patience with a slow learner.
3. quiet, steady perseverance; even-tempered care; diligence: to work with patience.

There are so many ways we can incorporate patience into blogging.  A couple that jump out right at me are the following:

1. Diligence – Don’t give up.  If you start a blog or an online business and then get discouraged because you are not getting the results you desire, don’t give up.  Keep going.  Pray.  Ask for God’s will.  If you do the work and it’s in God’s will, then success will come.
2. Without Complaint – Does it make sense to complain about things we can not change?  No it doesn’t and in the blogosphere things are always changing.  Ad networks can the way they work, blogging networks revise their rules and regulations, and even blogging platforms such as Blogger and Wordpress make changes you may not like.  If something changes that you do not like you have a couple options, deal with it or move on.  Complaining is not an option and does not do anyone any good.

Blogging the Bible is just one more way that we as Christians can show the love of Christ.  What are some of the ways you think we as Christians can incorporate patience in with our blogs?   I would love to hear your opinions and suggestions.

Today I am continuing on the series, Incorporating Christian Virtues Into Your Blog.  This series of posts is based on Colossians 3:12, “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;“  which is a list of virtues that Christians are suppose to have.  The virtue being examined today is meekness and I will be discussing how we, as bloggers, can incorporate meekness in our daily blogging lives.

According to Random House Dictionary meekness can mean three different things:

humbly patient or docile, as under provocation from others.

overly submissive or compliant; spiritless; tame.

Obsolete. gentle; kind.

The biblical definition is a little different than the one from Random House.  Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words explains that the Greek word used for meekness in the Bible verse Colossians 3:12 is prautes, which is similar in meaning to gentleness. While the word meekness can at times refer to a person’s outward appearance, such as patience, gentle, kind, it can also refer to Christians who accept the Lord’s dealings with us as good and does not dispute or resist them.  We are in a way, submissive to the Lord’s will.

The common definition of meekness is easy to incorporate in our blogs.  By being patient and kind, by not writing a post that is complaining, by not leaving a comment that could create conflict, we are showing the outward appearance of meekness.  But what about the inward, spiritual, side of meekness?  How can we incorporate that in our blogs?

1. Stay true to your faith – In the blogging world it is easy to get sidetracked and involved in less than Christian-like activities, such as blog jealously, envy, or gossip.  We need to remember way we started blogging and ask ourselves how our blog is giving glory to God.
2. Pray for your blog – How are we suppose to know God’s will for our blog if we do not pray about for our blog? Prayer is our way of communicating with God and allows us to have closer relationship with Him.  If we are praying for our blog and doing God’s will in regards to our blog then our blogs will be successful.

There is one virtue left that is listed in Colossians 3:12 and that virtue is longsuffering.

photo credit: notashamedShould you combine your faith with your blog?  What  if your blog is not religious, faith based,  or personal in nature?  Combining your faith with your blog does not necessary mean you should start writing about your faith.  There are a lot of way to combine your faith and blog without posting about your religious views.  But should you?

I think you should.  Your faith is a part of who you are.  By not mixing your  faith with your blog you are denying not only yourself but your blog as well.  In my opinion, in order to have a successful blog you must put yourself into it 100%.  Your blog is a reflection of who you are and people are going to notice if you are not putting yourself into your posts.

Again, I’m not saying you have to start writings about your faith.  If you have a blog about cars, you don’t want to lose readers by getting off topic.  There are other ways to incorporate your faith in your blog.  Here are four ways:

1. Pray for your blog
2. Don’t post anything you would be embarrassed for God to see (ie: foul language, indecent images, etc.)
3. Apply Biblical principals to your blog plan
4. Treat others as you would like to be treated (ie. Don’t get sucked into blog drama and jealously)

Of couse there are more ways to incoporate your faith into your blog then just these.  How do yo combine your faith with your blog?