I was watching American Ninja Warrior the other night. I must confess, my favorite ninja has always been Daniel Gil, a worship leader from Texas. This man has trained for years to become one of the elites of the sport. Joy just emanates from this guy and he is always smiling. I don’t know him, but I like him. The culmination if you make it through all the levels of the competition, essentially an insane obstacle course, is an obstacle called (and I’m not sure I am even close to spelling this right) Mount Medoriama. It is a 75 foot rope climb. 75 feet straight up and in 30 seconds. Daniel Gil made it with two seconds to spare. The prize one million dollars. Now all that stood between him and a veritable fortune was a few more people who also made it to the Mount. One after another failed to make it in time, until finally a guy named Vance Walker came up. A much younger man, who had been born with cerebral palsy, and who had worked and trained, until finally he became another elite athlete. Vance Walker beat Gil’s time and walked away with the million dollars. It was a great story, and I was very happy for Walker, but I also felt for Daniel Gil, who was gracious in defeat and held onto his smile. I loved the scene, it was beautiful in a lot of ways.

Then I got online. I saw one guy who said he loved to see someone wipe the smile off Daniel Gil’s face. TROLL! You’ve got to watch out for them. My temptation was to jump into a fight with him, but to what end. All I would have done was add to a stupid argument, and for what purpose? It turns out, when pressed on it and told of the way Gil congratulated Walker, the troll replied that the smile left Gil’s face for a moment when he saw Walker won. Wow, really? He had a million dollars and then he didn’t, I can’t imagine how that wouldn’t take the smile off someone’s face. My we Christians are held to a mighty high standard, especially by trolls. 

Two deserving athletes went after a goal, they both got there, one a little faster than the other. They were gracious in victory and defeat. No sense letting a troll wreck that. I suspect the troll was looking for a fight. I suspect his distaste for Gil may have had something to do with his faith, which is speculation, and doesn’t really add to things except to say people not liking you for your faith, while you live with a smile on your face, just might be a sign that you’re doing something right. Don’t fight with trolls.

Then just a few seconds ago, I finished watching an episode of the Chosen. It was the one where the woman with the issue of blood was healed and Jairus’ daughter was raised. I’ll confess to you I was blubbering like a fool as I watched this story portrayed before my eyes. What a wonderful use of creativity. I know The Chosen has it’s share of detractors too, and not all of them are trolls, but some most definitely are. Is it perfect? No. Does it get every fact of Scripture right? Also probably not. Is it an effort by Christian creatives to portray the Lord and bring Him honor and glory? Absolutely, despite what the trolls may say. And that’s the thing, trolls are people looking for a fight, looking for the slightest flaw or imperfection. An elite athlete who sees a million dollars slide through his fingers and loses his smile for a second. A show trying to bring glory to God, but has a crew member who isn’t following Jesus, (by the way, shouldn’t we kind of want to have non-Christians working with us, so we can show them Jesus?) Trolls are out there everywhere, and the question is how will you react to them.

First off, if you let trolls keep you from using your gifts to serve the Lord, they are not the problem, you are. Our calling is not to please everyone. Our calling is to please the only One who truly matters. Secondly, getting into a fight with a troll, online or otherwise is to give them exactly what they want. To do this is to reward bad behavior. To be clear, every critic is not a troll. Some of them have genuinely helpful things to say. Appreciate them and use discernment on any changed they suggest, but don’t hold back for fear of trolls. Trolls are unhappy people, who live to disrupt. Live to God’s glory. Love and pray for the trolls, and let God deal with them. Only God can change a troll.