Take A Look At This

Clickbait.

When I got into the internet 23 years ago, that phrase was not on my radar. I’m fairly certain the concept wasn’t a thing at the time.

At the moment, however, there is something about the concept that evokes mostly disdain from observers who talk about. For clickbait is the deliberate ploy by someone to entice a viewer to check the content based on a provocative headline with or without a duly captivating image. It is a tactic used to garner more views on the site and that number of views can then be used to share with others who might be interested in investing time on the portal. More often than not the content behind the headline is not as riveting, informative or substantial as the headline suggests. In essence it says ‘take a look at this’ for you to take a look and see that there’s nothing much to look at.

The concept itself might refer specifically to online content, but the overall thinking is not that new at all. The whole thing of being enticed is about someone suggesting that an act on your part or a commitment to explore something based on their teasing invitation turns out to reveal something ultimately disappointing.

Some might get the impression that signs and wonders in the some Christian circles works in a similar way. This gets people to think that if they chase where the miracles are happening this will be where the action is. There’s more allure to following the one with the healing or deliverance ministry. Some are even persuaded that this is the true sign of where the Spirit is moving and if healing and deliverance is not happening then there must be seriously wrong with the level of faith or the presence of God among the gathering.

The Kingdom of God, however, does not work on the concept of clickbait. People would have been attracted to Jesus by the signs, but His call to follow Him was not one that would please that kind of marketing tactic at all. Jesus’ challenge went beyond looking for the enticing and actually take a look at the real transformation He brings into people’s lives, as they embraced the Kingdom He was presenting.

The call to repent was an invitation to take a look at something substantial and endurable. The call to turn was a proclamation of a new rule to replace the unsatisfactory efforts of systems and cultures that in their way entertained the equivalent of ‘clickbaits’ that promised much and produced little. Knowing the Way, the Truth and the Life is not a gimmick appeal. It’s an opportunity to take a look at something that genuinely will turn the mourning at the state of things into joy at the hope to be found in the one who triumphs over those things.

It’s worth taking a look.

(Photo by MARVIN TOLENTINO on Unsplash)

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden