Gmail, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Yahoo News, Hulu. Ahhhh!
I'd get on the internet just to check my email and all of the sudden I was watching The Bachelor (I'm not proud. I realize it's meaningless filth...but the previews are so dramatic. And I am so weak.)
So I asked my husband to block Hulu. This is how one overcomes I thought. And that is part of it. Running from temptation is wise. But I still get drawn into what fashion crime so-and-so committed, or what new diet shake will make me look 18 again, or the new good thing Martha is up to. And I look up and somebody has messed with my clock because 20 minutes have gone by and I haven't had my quiet time and Miss Scruffy is starring up at me with her little back legs crossed.
I can't block the whole internet!
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| Miss Scruffy is as bad as I am. |
So what's the plan?
Well, I'm not sure.
But I do know that preaching the gospel to myself puts this life back in perspective.
I don't even deserve life, but Jesus gave me eternal life. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
That loving God is my Master, and I am willingly His slave. So what am I doing? What grounds do I have to waste my Master's time?
In my ladies Bible study at Church, we have been studying 1 John. We've talked a lot about how this is the age of distractions. We as Christian women desire to walk down God's path, but Satan wants to devour us with distractions that draw us to dead ends and away from our Bibles and from giving our time to others. I've been looking through my Bible study notes, because it is in this study that God really convicted me of my laziness and idolatry of entertainment and the mind numbing computer screen. (I said it. Oh, it sounds so terrible out loud!)
I thought I'd share some of my notes:
1 John 4:13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.
If my body is a tent for the Holy Spirit, who am I to live for myself or to be lazy?
I have to set my will aside.
1 John 5:4-5 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world ; and this is the victory that has overcome the world -our faith. 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God ?
You have overcome the world in Christ Jesus. Do you live like it?
When we get caught up in worldliness, we forget our purpose (to bring glory to God).
Don't get bogged down on useless matters.
Hate distractions; focus on the eternal. Focus on Christ.
Be intentional!
And our teacher asked us What do you live for?
Honestly, I really don't care about some celebrity's new pinkie toe ring, and the Real Simple website won't bring me contentment. The media brings me neither joy nor fulfilment. The media is not my God, and especially not my Lord.
"Dear children, keep yourselves from idols." These are the last words of John's first epistle.
