“We were made for wonder, but we’ve settled
for entertainment. God built us to crave true, fulfilling joy. But for many of
us, that God-given craving for heart satisfaction has driven us past God
Himself, who was meant to be the fulfillment of those desires, toward a drug
that dulls the ache of dissatisfaction and disappointment but never truly
fulfills us.
I have a new purse that still makes
me a little happy when I look at it. It is okay if I spend some money on a
purse—and I did spend a bit too much on it. But it’s not necessarily a sin to
spend too much on a new purse.
The sin is that I think it is going
to satisfy some craving in me, apart from Jesus.
We’ve traded the wonder and
satisfaction of a deep relationship with our Creator for Netflix, social media,
and a new purse.”
Jennie Allen
in her book “Nothing to Prove”.
What if our social media addiction and
overconsumption of TV shows is just a symptom
of a deeper root cause: the lack of a close relationship with God in our lives?
I can not count the amount of times that I have used entertainment to escape my
negative feelings. TV shows are my favorite escape. The last thing I want to do when I’m having a bad day or when I’m arguing
with my husband is seek God’s counsel. I don’t want to spend time with God when
I’m feeling angry or disappointed. It’s always so tempting to just escape for
awhile and binge watch TV or spend a few hours on social media.
This is what
I’ve learned so far: binge-watching TV feels good for a little while, but
sooner or later I will have to face reality again. I often end up feeling even worse when I escape my problems through
entertainment, because once I must face reality again I haven’t gained any wisdom.
It’s hard to turn to God when I’m angry, sad or disappointed but every time I
choose Him over entertainment I end up being grateful that I did. There have
been multiple times when I’ve argued with my husband that I’ve gotten exactly the wisdom I needed when I’ve
chosen to turn to prayer instead of TV.
The biggest
reason I want to choose TV over prayer when I’ having a bad day is because TV offers
amusement but God offers truth. Sometimes I come to God in
prayer saying something like this: “God I’m
having a bad day, I need your help. Did you see the way my husband was talking
to me when we argued? He’s being an idiot!” God’s answer often sounds
something like this: “Are you being
respectful, kind and loving in your actions right now? No. I’m going to need
you to be the first one to say sorry. Don’t worry about your husband. You need
to focus on your part in this argument.” Do you see why I’d rather
choose to binge-watch TV? The truth stings sometimes. When I choose to escape
reality through entertainment I can continue
to be stubborn and full of pride. When I seek God’s counsel through prayer it’s
impossible to not be humbled.
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