We live in a world of distractions! The number of things that try to grab our attention and steal our time, keep increasing as the days go by, and they become harder and harder to resist. Unless we are careful, we will end up losing ourselves to a habit of giving in to this world of distractions.
Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians advises, “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16 NIV).
Almost all of us, regardless of age, have spent hours mindlessly scrolling through content on our devices. Zombie scrolling is an active plague today. According to one estimate, the average person scrolls through 300 feet (the height of Statue of Liberty) of content every single day!
Acquiring information and relaxing through short entertaining videos is certainly not a sin (as long as the content is not unholy). But the crafty one has weaponized this tool, quite powerfully in fact, to keep us away from the Lord.
‘My Utmost for His Highest’ is a widely read daily devotional, by Oswald Chambers. Yet, “I think I should spend some time in prayer before I sleep”, is often a thought that we have ONLY after having spent hours on our devices and when the tiredness has kicked in. Ultimately, the quality of time that we give to our Most High is not the ‘utmost’, but the poorest.
We often don’t realise that the time that we have is a gift from God. We faithfully dedicate a new car, or a new house to the Lord, acknowledging that it is all from Him, and pray that we use it for His glory only! But do we do that with the time that He has given us?
I admit that I have often wanted to pray and spend time reading His Word, but just didn’t feel like it. I knew it was ideal to do so, but I had no desire. This is a feeling that many of us have, isn’t it? We long for that first love, when our hearts were on fire for the Lord, and when all we wanted to do was pray and meditate on His Word.
But why is it so hard? Why am I struggling to live a disciplined lifestyle? ‘Screwtape’, the senior demon in the C S Lewis book, ‘The Screwtape Letters’, teaches the junior demon, ‘Wormwood’, “We want cattle who can finally become food; He (God) wants servants who can finally become sons.” Being cattle is easy, and that’s the route we often take! But we don’t want to become food for the devil, do we? No, we want to live our life worthy of His calling. That requires work, surrender and obedience. Tough, but worth it! After all, ‘our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.’
Therefore, pray and push yourself, to cut off things in your life that you know keep you away from holiness. Pray and push yourself, to be His servant, in thought and action. Pray and push yourself, to be a man / woman of discipline, not just for improving your physical or mental health, but for HIM who loves you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
David Joseph is a Consultant with the Christian Institute of Management, Chennai. He currently helps coordinate CIM’s online courses and manage the digital learning platform. He recently completed his post-graduation in Computer Applications. David enjoys playing badminton and guitar and learning new things in the ever-changing digital world. He is based in Vellore with his wife, Heema, who works at the Distance Education Unit of CMC. They are both active in various ministry wings of the Church.
