Hey there. I’ve been thinking lately, “What would my life look like if I traded in my time-killing distractions (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, fiction books, TV/movies ) for things that were truly beneficial to me and had eternal value?”

If I took all the time that I was spending on my personal entertainment and used it on things that could grow me in my relationship with God–reading Christian books, consistent prayer, more time in Scripture, journaling and blogging, and showing love to others–what would my life look like?

I’ve been struggling with it. I go back and forth between, “Wow, that would be great!” and “Sounds like a good idea, but I don’t know if I can do that.” I know that the entertainment/media options I listed above are not problems in themselves. I also know that they’re not bad for everybody, but for me they’re distractions that pull my focus away from the Lord.

Back in the day (like a year and a half ago), TV/YouTube/Netflix were big distractions for me. There were occasions when I would stay up almost all night watching shows on Netflix. When I finally turned it off, I regretted how I had wasted my time, but after a couple of days–or even the next day–I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to say no to watching more. And the cycle would repeat: question myself, give in and watch, feel bad, think I should change, want to watch more. I felt junky. I didn’t have self control and I wasn’t spending my time well. And I definitely was not glorifying the Lord with my bad habits. But, **now for the good part of the story** I realized I didn’t want to continue the dumb behavior any longer and I deleted the Netflix app. And my new house in Honduras didn’t have wifi access upstairs where my bedroom was. And the Lord helped me.

So I’m thinking that this is a similar instance. I don’t want to give up my fiction books and Facebook scrolling. I like them. And sometimes I don’t want to think, and they “kindly” distract me. I like that and I don’t want to let it go.

But when I stop and think from a more biblical, eternal perspective, I see that it’s silly to think that I would prefer reading a romantic book to knowing the God of the Universe who is love. Why should I care about impressing people with what shows up on my Facebook profile when the same God who created the world and everything in it desires to speak to me? I need my heart and mind to be transformed so that I can see rightly.

I’ve been reading When I Don’t Desire God by John Piper, and it’s a crazy book. I’m learning all of these things that I’d never heard before. If you know anything about John Piper or his ministry, Desiring God, you know what he bases everything off of: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” He teaches that it doesn’t matter if you have “made a decision” for Christ if you don’t enjoy Him above all else. He says that obeying God and enjoying God are gifts from God Himself. We show God to be supremely valuable and supremely glorious when we “are so satisfied in him that [we] let goods and kindred go and lay down [our] lives for others in mercy, missions, and, if necessary, martyrdom (p. 29).”

A truth that I’d known but never put much thought into, that I’ve seen in this book and Desiring God blog posts, is that EVERY good thing is a gift from God. Just like it says in James 4:17. Is obedience good? Yes, so it’s a gift from God. Is enjoying God good? Yes, so it’s a gift from God. Is joyfully serving others good? Is having wisdom good? Is being patient good? YES! So that means they are all gifts from God. It’s kind of blowing my mind to think that on my own, I’m not even capable of producing a good thought.

This has been huge for me. I’m understanding a little better that apart from God, I truly can do nothing good. I think that I’ve erroneously thought that I didn’t need God that much… I know, dumb! Thanks to this new understanding though (which is a gift itself), I find myself stopping much more often to ask for help: “Lord, it’s 8:15 and I’m already frustrated. Give me patience with these kids. Help me to love them well.” “God, please change my thoughts toward this person. I’m annoyed, but I don’t want to be.” “I’m really tired, Lord. Help me to be joyful and have a good attitude.” It’s so beneficial to see my lack and my weakness because it leads me to seek God for what I need. And I get to gaze upon him as the Giver, Provider, and Sovereign One. When God lets me see my position/situation more clearly, I see Him more clearly as well. And that’s a very good thing.

My prayer is that I would desire God above all else. I want to accurately display God to the people around me. I want them to know how good he is and I want my life to be an illustration of his mercy and grace and love. Probably all of us who know the Lord and have been brought to new life want that. Or at least want to want it. Even though it seems impossible to think that my deepest delight and greatest joy would consistently be found in God and that I would desire him more than anything else, I know that’s what I was made for. And I want to live out the purpose for which I was created.

As John Piper says in When I Don’t Desire God, “Knowing Christ in this way [having a spiritual sense of his beauty and corresponding pleasure in the soul] means seeing him for who he really is and enjoying him above all things (p. 69).“

With that in mind, I’ll finish with these verses:

“Oh that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn and the coming of rains in early spring.” (Hosea 6:3)

“My heart has heard you say, ‘Come and talk with me,’ and my heart responds, ‘Lord, I am coming.'” (Psalm 27:8)

Friends (& maybe people I don’t know), thanks for reading. I hope that you can connect with these thoughts and be encouraged to know that you aren’t the only one who doesn’t desire God as much as they should. And, on a way more beneficial level, that you would be encouraged with the reminder that all good things come from the Good Father that delights in giving good gifts to his children.

Let’s press on to know Him!!

Con amor,

Lindsey