Last week I started with a new
series about the three little pigs. One built his house of straw,
one with sticks and the only one who kept on standing was the house
built with bricks. I also asked the question whether your life was
filled with straw, sticks or bricks? Which one consumes most of
your time? I hope you spent some time last week answering that
question for yourself.
This week I want to start with the
straw that can fill one's life and eat at the time that you ought
to be spending on the bricks. I am only going to discuss three main
elements that I feel steal most of our time. There are obviously
much more than these, but these are the ones I feel is most common
amongst people. Whilst reading them, analyze your own life and
identify the straw that steals your joy.
- 1. The internet and social
media
Now before some of you want to
stone me for saying this, please hear me out first. The internet
and social media is a wonderful thing. Information is at hand, we
can handle all our transactions through it, we can stay in touch
with people who live in another part of the world, we can learn so
much, we can stay in touch with world events and news, we can make
money through using the internet and so I can go on and on. It is
no doubt a good thing, you wouldn't even be able to read my blog if
it wasn't for the internet. I cannot imagine a corporate world
without the internet, it is totally unthinkable and it makes me
wonder sometimes what our clever human race will think of next. But
for now the internet is an irreplaceable part of our lives and
social media an avenue to communicate with friends and loved ones
far away.
But as anything in our lives, it
can become too much. If the internet and especially social media
replaces your contact with human beings around you, I have a
problem with it. I would like to point out a few examples to bring
my statement across.
A friend of mine works at a design
company. She loves working there, but when I asked her about the
people working with her she said they are okay. When I asked her to
elaborate further, she simply said, "Well, they don't talk much
really. When they want to ask/tell me something they email me even
though I am sitting right next to them." Now I found that very
interesting. God made us as human beings who interact with one
another, who need one another. He made each of us with unique
qualities that communicate with one another in interesting manners.
He didn't make us loners who cannot look someone else in the eyes.
We are human beings, made for interaction and if that interaction
is through a cold computer, whilst we have the alternative to be
polite and talk to the person right next to us, I have a problem
with it.
Another example is when I went to
say hallo to a friend of mine, her sister was visiting her from
overseas. But the whole time I was there she was on Facebook.
The whole time updating her status and checking the status of
everyone she knew to see if something changed in the meantime. I
barely got a nod. Now I don't have a problem with Facebook per se,
but when it is more important than the people around you, and most
importantly your family around you, then I have a problem. She was
on Facebook most of her stay with her sister and it made her sister
feel less important than all her 'friends' on Facebook, which is
very sad to me.
Also I have heard numerous times
examples of men coming home from work, who slumps in front of the
internet to search the net for the latest news and trends. I am not
talking about men that come home that still need to finish work; I
am talking about men putting general news on the internet and
social media in front of their wives and children. The children are
keen to spend some time with their father they haven't seen all day
and the wife would like to chat about things with her husband, but
he prefers the internet above them. I have a problem with that.
Nothing should come ahead of your family, except God.
My husband has a coffee shop and he
frequently tells me how couples don't talk to one another anymore.
Whilst waiting for their order they are busy on their phones the
whole time. Their phones consume the time that they could have
related to one another and spend quality time together.
Last, but definitely not least,
think about the time you spend on the internet, and now I am not
talking about your working hours/ hours paying bills etc, but the
physical time you spend simply 'surfing the net' or 'staying
connected on social media'. Is it more than the time you spend with
the Lord? If it is, then you need to start looking for ways to
decrease your time because (maybe unknowingly) you are creating an
idol, you are idolizing and valuing the internet and social media
more than God. In the Old Testament times it was easy to recognize
an idol and it is easy for us to condemn them today for worshipping
dead wooden images. But today the internet can also be classified
as a 'dead wooden image'.
It is with examples such as these
that the internet and social media becomes straw to me. When the
first wolf comes and blows at your house, in other words, if
something comes and rattles your life, the internet will blow away
very quickly. You need something more solid to keep you standing,
and there is nothing more solid than our Rock, Jesus. Rather make
time to spend with Him. It is definitely more lasting than your
last 'tweet'!
Lord please give us the strength to
value You and our family more than the internet and social media.
It sounds so easy, but it is not. Please help us; we don't want an
idol above You Lord. You are our all in all! Amen.