With the rise of social media nowadays, it seems more and more that virtual connections are slowly taking over face-to-face communication. I was sitting down with a friend who does most of his work online, and he was sharing to me a compelling case of how there will come a time that online will be the new norm for work connections.
I believe in online and a large chunk of the ministry I do is online, but even with the growth, value and opportunity there is in social media and online connections, there will never come a time when face-to-face interactions and communication will no longer matter.
Reading many of Paul's epistles, the apostle expresses numerous times his desire and effort to go beyond just the letters and even meet the members of the early church in the flesh. In 1 Thessalonians 2:17-18, Paul says, "But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us."
It's interesting how Paul considers the inhibition of this face-to-face impartation between spiritual leaders and the body as Satan's effort. Is face-to-face interaction really that much of a threat to the kingdom of darkness? If we really knew who God is and what He values then we would know that it is because God is a relational God who desires that we have intimate and close encounters with Him and with others.
Acts 2:42 shares the foundational practices that helped the early church grow: "And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." All of these things happened in an intimate and face-to-face setting where people caught impartation from being together.
Consider this: Even Jesus thought it meant so much for us to experience Him at a face-to-face level that He moved out of the comforts of heaven to come down and commune with man. Because Jesus walked on this earth as man, ate with sinners as man and did ministry as man, a handful of fishermen and tax collectors caught such a strong impartation that it compelled them to start a movement that is still alive and growing today.
Social media and the digital world bring so many benefits to us and they have replaced many of the outdated things that we used to find so hard to do such as global payments, shopping, work communication and even file storage. But God still puts such a heavy premium on face-to-face interaction that we must never hope for the day that social media and digital fully replace the value of meeting together in person.
