Easter Monday - how to make Jesus interesting when cat videos exist

Easter is a perfect time for you to share Jesus with your friends. But how can you make the Easter message meaningful and interesting when your friends would rather watch cat videos on TikTok than hear about Jesus?

Beating the algorithm

We’ve all heard about “the algorithm.” It’s the thing that sucks you into the TikTok vortex for hours at a time, keeping you hooked by tailoring content to your personal preferences. In fact, it probably knows what you like even better than you do!

While the algorithm can be helpful at times—for instance, predictive shopping or efficiently sharing information—it can also damage your physical, emotional, and even spiritual health.

These days, it’s so much easier to scroll your feed than to address toxic thought patterns, see a therapist, or take care of your health. Social media often acts as a bandaid that distracts you from the reality of life, and your true, human needs.

The ultimate human need, of course, is saving from sin. Easter is a great reminder of how Jesus met this need for a Saviour by dying on the cross for us. While we fill our lives with distraction and “save ourselves” by buying material goods, we forget that we are “wretched, miserable, poor and blind and naked” (Revelation 3:17).

Yes, the algorithm can predict and provide all the entertainment or material goods you might want, but it can’t give you what you truly need. Remembering this and putting it into action is how you can beat the algorithm and share Jesus more meaningfully with others.

The need for genuine, human connection

If you want to share Jesus with your TikTok-addicted friends, here’s what you can do:

Step 1: Ask your friend some deeper questions, like:

• What do you desire?
• What are your deepest needs right now?
• What are you afraid of?
• What brings you meaning and purpose?

Step 2: Help your friend see how Jesus can:

• Fulfil their desires
• Meet their needs
• Help them overcome fear
• Give them meaning and purpose

There is one thing the algorithm can’t offer, no matter how smart it gets: genuine, human connection and understanding. The algorithm can’t empathise with your tricky life circumstances, cure your mental health struggles, or help your mum through her cancer journey. It can’t offer wise guidance, genuine peace, or hope for tomorrow. But by connecting with a friend and asking them, “How are you, really?” you can discover their real needs and share how Jesus can help to fulfil them.

This Easter, maybe it’s time to connect in-person with a friend, on an emotional level, and see how you can meet their needs—the ones that Siri and Alexa can’t.