Well, I went and did it. I pulled the proverbial trigger and deleted my Facebook and Instagram accounts.
I told myself that I’d try to blog more here…but I’ve been saying that for years. Why would now be different?
Because it has to be.
No, I don’t mean that some crazy amount of importance balances on me posting blogs. That’s ridiculous. What I mean is that I’ve reached, frankly far surpassed, a point in my life where major changes need to be made. Taking time to blog is – in the grander scheme – a much lesser part of the overall changes I seek in my life, but it is one of them, so here I am.
I’m in a season right now that seeks to remove distractions. Distractions aren’t necessarily sin…until they are. What do I mean by that? Facebook and Instagram aren’t inherently sinful. Hmm…perhaps I should say “using Facebook and Instagram isn’t inherently sinful.” You decide. But James tells us (James 4:17) that if we know to do a good thing, and we don’t, it’s sin for us. So if I know or intend to do a good thing, the distraction keeping me from it becomes sin. I don’t intend to set the bar for “good” here to something small, though I don’t necessarily think that’s unfair. As with most things, there are levels…let’s get the big things right and increasingly turn our focus toward the “smaller” or “lesser” things, right? As I look over my history, I see distractions that have fallen by the wayside somewhat naturally and those that have been fought against.
It was at this very moment that I had an epiphany.
The distractions I’ve left behind were NOT fought against. They were replaced. The two biggest that come to mind are my formerly insatiable desire to watch sports and a certain TV series that I watched incessantly. I’m intentionally not naming the TV series, because it’s not that it’s good or bad…though I’m sure there could be debate about that…it just had too high a seat in my life.
Sports fell by the wayside when I began to focus on my marriage and my walk with the Lord. The TV series fell off when I determined I “didn’t have time” to read a book every month when I was going through our church’s discipleship group. Something had to give, and I realized that I couldn’t make the argument that I didn’t have time while I was spending the time on the TV series. I had made a TV series more important than my walk with the Lord (ouch, right?).
While I’m glad to have this epiphany, I knew this in my head. My wife and I have been talking about how the true freedom from distraction comes not from fighting the distraction, but in pursuing the thing you’re meant to be pursuing. The energy spent on overcoming the distraction becomes, I suspect, equally harmful in terms of time and effort, and we remain no more intentional about pursuing whatever it is we should be pursuing.
So, the time has come to do two things:
- Do what I know to do immediately – delete Facebook and Instagram
- Move the things that I know from my head down to my heart…from a way of thinking to a lifestyle.
I often don’t know how to end my blog posts, and historically I’ve taken to ending them with a prayer. I’ve decided that I like that, and that it’s typically a fitting way to go from, “Here’s what I’m feeling” to “Lord, please help me get there.”
Father, I thank You…I thank You for Who you are, and for the ways that You have guided me to this point. I ask that You forgive me for having spurned Your direction so many times. Help me this time, as I seek Your face. May I grow closer to You with each passing day, and may the gates of Hell tremble at the works that You are doing in me and in my family.
Holy Spirit, fill me with the fruit that only You can give. Let others see You in the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that You will grow in my life, and may the lives of many be touched by the work that You do, even as mine will be.
Help me to lead my family well, and for us all to grow nearer to You.
In Jesus’ mighty Name.
AMEN
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Leave a Reply