I may be showing my age here, but I like TvLand. I still enjoy those tv shows I used to watch while I was growing up, but recently I noticed something disturbing.
Compared to the shows being produced today, nothing ever really happens on those old programs.
They spend 30 minutes dealing with one character or one issue and then they are done, ready to tackle another issue next week. But those 30 minutes seem to drag on and on as just one issue is being faced.
And that’s when I realized: those old shows are boring. They don’t have what it takes to hold my attention like they did in my youth, so I ask: what has changed?
Not the shows. They are the same as they were 30 years ago when they first aired. That’s when I realized where the difference lies.
It lies with me.
I just don’t have the attention span to watch one story and deal with one issue for 30 minutes. TV programs today have multiple characters with multiple intertwining storylines that move at an incredibly fast pace so I don’t get bored with the show.
So what about other areas of my life? What about the Gospel?
The Gospel is the simple story of God’s mercy and grace being bestowed upon sinful men and women who deserve judgment.
So, have we become bored with the Gospel?
I think, in some ways, yes we have.
For example:
If the Pastor is preaching more than 15-20 minutes, do we get antsy in our seats and start checking our watches?
Do we encourage our Pastor with “amens” and “hallelujahs” towards the end of the sermon or just at the beginning?
Are our hearts eager to hear again the simple saving truth of the Bible and its commandments to love God and each other or does our distracted heart say, “I’ve heard this already, it bores me. Give me something new.”
You see, we live in an age where learning and technology have taken over the planet and changed the way we think about our world. Things are changing so fast that we cannot sit and dwell on one thing for very long, lest we be left behind as our culture moves forward.
But the Word of God has not changed, nor it’s truths and our duty towards them.
Deuteronomy 6: 6-9:
6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
Joshua 1:8
8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.
We have lost the ability to sit and to read and to study and to meditate. But the Bible directs us to always have the Words of God in our heads and in our hearts and to meditate upon them day and night.
Take time each day to unplug from your TV and your computer and your phone. Use that time to immerse yourself in the pages of the Word of God and allow His Word to immerse itself in your heart.
Remember, people retain a small percentage (20-50%) of what they see and hear, but they retain 100% of what they memorize, so set a goal and start to memorize Scripture today.
Distractions will always come. Our enemy will make sure of that! We need to relearn how to focus on Jesus Christ and His Word so that we will grow up completely in the Gospel that saved us and that daily changes us into the image of Christ.
So, how do you deal with distractions from the Gospel? Let me know in the comments.
