In the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, I took a personal fast. It’s something I’ve never done before, yet I know I needed it. I did so for the brokenness of America, for the world’s need for Jesus, and for my own spiritual reflection—because God knows I’m not blessing the world the way that Charlie did, and I must do better.
My Own Social-Media Pitfalls
In this fast, I found myself doing a lot of praying and Bible reading (obviously) but also almost an equal amount of doom-scrolling through the aftermath of the tragedy. My platform of choice is X, where I can see both the beautiful and the ugly, both Truth and Evil.
On X, I get informed. I comment. And I refresh my feed constantly, as if the next post will be the one that changes my life.
In my Bible reading, I have been trying to learn more about the Spiritual Armor in Ephesians 6, because it’s what I need to become that better blessing in this wicked, wicked world. To understand Ephesians 6 correctly, I needed to read the whole book several times over. While doing so, I was convicted over and over by Paul’s incredibly practical guidance for how a Christian should think, behave, interact, and live—mainly from Ephesians 4:1-5:21.
The conviction I was feeling while reading these verses was that I have been dabbling in darkness on X. It’s not porn. It’s not watching people get shot. It’s listening to thousands of unbelievers (with a few Christians sprinkled in) spewing their opinions laced with anger and profanity.
I don’t feel better when I’m done scrolling. I often feel worse. I often feel like I was staring at my screen far longer than I should have been.
Remedies from the Apostle Paul
And then I read Paul, who confirms to me why I feel worse. The Holy Spirit uses His Word to cleanse me, and I can’t imagine why there are days when I prefer the X feeds over the living Word of God! Dopamine, I’m sure, is the reason—so until I figure out how to get the same dopamine hits from my Bible that I get from my phone, I need a reminder of what’s really important. I want to hunger and thirst after this “bread that you do know” (as Jesus said).
For that reason, I devised a little “Social Media Gatekeeper” that I am trying to add to my own scrolling routine. When I come to it, I don’t answer every question, because I don’t need to answer every question. One or two are usually enough to remind me how dangerous social media can be, and how precious the Living Word of God is.
16 Gatekeeper Questions to Keep Me Honest
Below are 16 examples questions I’ve pulled from the first 15 verses in this passage. I’d love to see this made into a gate-keeper app, where, instead of inputting a code to open up X or Facebook, I have to answer 3 of these questions at random. If you know how to build something like that, let’s partner!
I’ve got a full list of 73 questions based off of 53 verses that I use, but imagine how many more could be pulled from all of Paul’s writings, or Jesus’ words, or Scripture entirely!
- Will this app help you walk in a manner that’s worthy of your calling? (4:1)
- Will this app help you become more humble? (4:2)
- Will this app help you become more gentle? (4:2)
- Will this app help you become more patient? (4:2)
- Will this app help you show tolerance to other believers? (4:2)
- Will this app help you show love to other believers? (4:2)
- Will this app help you preserve Christian unity and keep peace? (4:3, 13)
- Will this app help you equip other Christians for ministry? (4:12)
- Will this app help you build up the Body of Christ? (4:12, 16)
- Will this app increase you knowledge of the Son of God? (4:13)
- Will this app mature you? (4:13, 15)
- Will this app help you measure up to Christ (4:14, 15)
- Will this app make you behave like a child? (4:14)
- Will this app confuse or distract you with different doctrines? (4:14)
- Will this app expose you to the trickery, craftiness, or scheming of men? (4:14)
- Will this app be an opportunity for you to speak the truth in love? (4:15)
Conclusion
Change in my habits won’t happen simply because I want it or pray for it. I need to get active in exposing the darkness of my own heart with light. A questionnaire like the above sample can help—so, who wants to help me turn it into an app?
©2025 E.T.