~Galatians 5: 16-17
How can a Christian possibly live a Christian life in the world today?
We're buffeted each day by the worldly, and that influence can be corrosive to our faith. It gets difficult to escape it. The values of our society are in decline. The lines between what is clearly right and what is clearly wrong continue to be blurred. We're exposed to a constant stream of media, and internet, and social media--all of them trying to promote an agenda. And pornography is everywhere. You can hardly use social media at all anymore without running across these images from time to time. And our kids are seeing all of this and being exposed to all of this you can be sure.
I've been preaching a lot lately on spiritual disciplines. Getting into good habits reading our Bibles. Praying frequently. Taking time to get alone and think in solitude--spending time in the presence of God. And as I've said many times from the pulpit, it's about putting God into the center of our lives, and interacting with God on a regular basis. Asking for guidance. Showing gratitude. Thinking about what God would have us do as we go through our day. Not just during our devotional time in the morning. Or while we're in Bible study on Wednesday night, or in church on Sunday morning.
Our faith should be the lens through which we see the world. It should guide us. And inform us. And direct us. And strengthen us. We should make all of our decisions in consultation with God. And that may include making decisions about what you read, and what you watch, and even how your interacting with the technology of today. You have to make intentional decisions about what you're consuming.
I've put a lot of limits on how I use technology now. And what I consume. I've discovered that much of what I thought I needed I don't really. I've learned to view technology as a tool instead of a toy. So much of our technology today comes to us in the form of distractions, which consume huge quantities of our time. It's become the center of our world. Our lens. And it's giving us a very warped and dark image of the world we're living in--and it's impacting our faith. It's impacting the way we know we should be living. It's eating away at our Christian values.
If you want to live a Christian life in this age of technology, you're going to have to spend some time polishing the lens you're looking through.
~Pastor Todd Creason
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