How do we justify distractions which steal away time that we could be investing in our relationship with God and the advancement of His kingdom? Not that He needs us, or our help. He simply wants us to spend time with Him, for our good and the good of those we love. We are the ones suffering from missed opportunities to know Him more deeply through the practice of His presence. Sadly and tragically, we are allowing ourselves to be victimized by the very things from which Jesus Christ died to save us (Galatians 6:14).
Victory in this area requires that we become more aware of our excuse-making, blame-shifting, and compromising carnal mind. We must force ourselves to consciously consider whether we would rather spend time with God or watch a baseball game, movie, vlog, etc. Could we make a better investment of our time and attention outside our favorite radio station, social media platform, or YouTube channel?
Granted, there are times when we just need to rest our minds, and God has given us a spiritual discipline for that; it is called solitude. Essentially, solitude is resting our minds in God. Yes, like all disciplines, solitude involves commitment and practice; but once developed, it requires little effort, eventually becoming a continual mental attitude. The peace of mind that transcends all understanding, once developed in our prayer closet, goes with us into the world.
It is important to recognize that the world offers several drugs to simulate the effect of God’s rest and peace. The most prominent ones are TV and the Internet. One might argue that these are two of the most highly addictive drugs known to man. Don’t believe me? Try stopping them cold turkey, and see how your mind protests. Go ahead, I double-dog dare you.
Lastly, we must be aware of our carnal mind’s deception regarding our deliverance from these addictions. It will say, “That’s just too difficult for you.” Like Satan, our carnal mind uses a little truth to hide the whole truth. Hopefully, we are now smarter than that. We know that all things are possible with God (Mark 10:27), and He will meet us in our desire to find Him (Matthew 7:8). The first step is committing to the process. From there, He will draw us away from the things of this world, just to be with Him.
God bless you with desire and grace for solitude with Him.
Humbly yours and forever His,
Rob