Surprised by Freedom
I don’t find myself caught off guard on Sunday mornings all that often, but there were two moments this week that surprised me. The first was the wave of boos and moans and groans when I said I was praying for more snow. Based on the weather reports, you seem safe this week, but I will keep praying! The second surprise was the number of hands that went up when I asked people to commit to taking a break from all social media and news this week. I confess I had low expectations, assuming just a few hands would go up, because I know it will be a big commitment. But wow what a response. I don’t know the exact numbers, but it seemed like a fourth of the crowd put up their hands. That is a big response. And I think it shows that our church is hungry for a change and hungry for freedom.
Social media isn’t inherently evil, but it is highly addictive and a huge drain of time and energy for most. Colby and I have been reading a book that came out last year called The Anxious Generation. One of the key findings in the book, based on all the recent research, is that there is a clear and direct link between anxiety and time spent on social media. The more time you spend doom scrolling, the more your anxiety goes up. So one of the simplest ways to reduce anxiety is to reduce social media use.
Another book that had a deep personal influence on me was Deep Work by Cal Newport. In it he shows how the social media companies don’t really care about us, all they really want is to get you addicted so that you spend as much time as possible using their product. They are highly motivated to develop features that increase addiction, because every minute you spend on their sites is advertisement dollars for them. So as we mindlessly scroll, we’re like their cattle grazing in a field of data to produce the milk of money in their pockets.
That part didn’t bother me so much (I already knew they had this behavior). What upset me, and really made me mad at myself, is how willingly I had gone along with their program. It’s not like I personally had gone kicking and screaming against the theft of my time; no, I had happily and willingly given them hours of my day that I would have liked to have used in other ways, like reading more, exercising more, playing with my kids more, or just simply staring off into space! Any of these would have been of much more value. And I didn’t even put up a fight. This was a wake up call for me to take back the time God had given me and use it for better purposes.
It’s one thing if I’m intentionally using social media for good when I want to, and also stepping away from it when I want to, but most of us have become addicted to it being a default means of escape. Our default behavior, whenever there is a down moment, is to pull out the phone and check something. This is so much like the addictive behavior of an alcoholic, who can’t say no to a drink even when they want to, that it is scary. I didn’t like realizing this about myself, but I’m grateful the behavior was exposed.
Thanks for reading my rant, now let me turn the corner to why this is important for Valley View:
As we read in 1 Peter this week, we are called to be sober-minded and self controlled. Being sober minded means not anxious, not overrun by the cares and fears of the future, not allowing our minds to run out of control. Instead we are called to walk by faith and trust in Christ.
The key to being sober-minded (in our right mind, in control of what we put in our brains) according to 1 Peter 4:7 is self-control, especially self-control with what we consume. Peter said it is our prayer lives that are at stake in this crazy game! The situation is too important to ignore any longer because of how it is eroding our ability to pray. Prayer is likely the most important spiritual activity our church can do. Every major movement of revival was accompanied (and usually preceded) by an extended effort of dedicated and intentional prayer. Probably the biggest hindrance to prayer is distraction – the distraction in our own heads – and most of the distracting things in our heads are things we put there ourselves, especially mindless social media content.
I know there are plenty of good reasons to be on social media, but my point here is to call us to regain control of our lives and not let Social Media run it for us. If you can’t say no when you want to, if you’re not able to put down the phone, then it’s time to regain control! Our prayer lives are at stake, which means the health and growth of our church is at stake. Let’s take back control and not wait another day. One person told me this week that before Sunday they were spending six to eight hours a day on Facebook alone! This person is now getting a life back that gives margin to read the Bible more, pray more, and connect with loved ones more. This is Freedom!
I hope you were able to look around the room and pick out someone to be an encouragement and accountability for you this week. Text one another and encourage one another along the way. Check in and see how they are doing. I’m sending my oldest son screenshots of my screen time each day this week for accountability.
If you mess up, don’t give up, just admit it and get back to it. I must confess that I did not start my social media and news fast till Monday afternoon, because I didn’t even think about the fact that ESPN is news – sports news is still news. And I was reading it Monday morning, out of habit, but I haven’t since, and have not missed it!
I’m praying that God stirs in all of us a deepened hunger for prayer and more peace as a result of these commitments. As our hunger for prayer grows, so will our ability to take the gospel all across the South End of Louisville!