Media and the Christian Life

Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling

Zechariah 2:13

When I read the challenge question, and the list of media – internet, television, movies, music, magazines, etc – we were considering, my gut feeling was one of being overwhelmed.  The sheer volume of media one must respond to is stressful – and then we have to consider and contend with content.

Just this past Wednesday, I met another sister in Christ, who shared her belief that silence, prayer and fasting were essential to hearing from God and discerning His will on what choices to make.  “Silence?”, I said, “What does that mean?”.  Essentially, silence means to unplug.  No cell.  No internet.  No texting.  No television.  No landline.  Dealing with all the media is overwhelming.  The enormity of the undertaking to unplug, however, is prohibitive in itself.  I’m so dependent that I have to plan for a day of silence.

Regardless, I take it as a worthy challenge.  I would like to plan in a day to unplug.  Maybe the easiest day to do it would be a Sunday.  Without the distractions of modern media, it would be easier for me to read my Bible and pray.  When I’m plugged-in, which is almost 100% of the time, the challenge is to guard & build my relationship to God, to others, and to myself.  So I have to do a couple of things.  First, distinguish between the urgent, important, and all other.  Second, use media to build relationships rather than pass along useless/negative information.  Three, ignore/delete message from people I don’t know.

Peace.