In our culture with social media and blogging taking over the world, we so often hear people refer to these as platforms. That would be accurate. An Instagram page can be used to share the gospel. Blogs and books can be used to explain and share the gospel, but these are not our only platforms.
A little while ago, I wrote a blog titled, “You Don’t Need a Platform”. In that blog, linked here, I wrote about how we don’t need a platform to fulfill our God-given purpose. But I want to challenge that in a new way.
We actually do need a platform, but not in the way society tries to tell us that we do.
The truth is, we already have the platforms we need. We don’t need an Instagram page with fifty thousand followers. We don’t need impeccable writing or speaking skills. We don’t need to be popular or famous or working in ministry. Yes, those are all platforms and when used to glorify our Father, they can be amazing tools to spreading the gospel, but they are not the only way to give Him glory.
We can’t all be famous. We can’t all be eloquent speakers and writers. We can’t all be missionaries or pastors or work directly in ministry. Some of us may be called to these things, but we won’t all be.
What we can do is use the platform we’ve each been given.
In these terms, a platform is defined as, “an opportunity to voice one’s views or initiate action” (Google Definitions). We are each given these opportunities, or platforms, daily. Whatever your platform looks like, use it. If you’re a student, share with your teachers and classmates. If you’re a mom, share with your children. If you’re in the work field, share with coworkers. We can share the gospel with our neighbors, random strangers in the grocery store, or with any person we cross paths with. We all have people in our lives that we can share the gospel with, and that is what our platform is.
The “go big or go home” mentality of our culture has ruined us, but we can rest in knowing that God already has it all mapped out. We just need to obey and use the platforms we’ve been given.
Mark 16:15 says, “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.’”
In the time in which this was written, social media didn’t exist. Platforms weren’t seen as someone with thousands of followers. Having a platform was going to other people, all people, and telling them about Jesus Christ.
The gospel was spread by people going out and spreading it, and that is the same platform the Lord has gifted to us all.