“OVERWHELMING INFLUENCES” – Dec 15

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.”  Psalm 1:1-2

Viktor Hertz / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

I currently have 300 podcasts on my computer that I have not listened to.

I have 845 unread articles on my RSS reader.

WordPress Reader provides a constant stream of posts from the blogs I follow.

I have bookshelves in my office full of books that I intend to read.

My Bible software program has over 1,000 books that I can search by key word.

My iPod has more music on it than I can remember.

My Facebook page has the 20+ symbol beside all of my categories.

I am overwhelmed with information.  We all live in a world that is awash with news, opinions, and content.  In general, I love it.  I have lived without Google.  I have lived when there wasn’t such a thing as the internet.  I am thankful that Al Gore invented it. The speed and ease by which I can obtain an answer to a question still amazes me.

I love the fact that I can access information with a few clicks of my mouse.  I love that I can carry my entire music collection in one small device rather than cases of cassettes.  I love the fact that I can read the work of amazingly talented writers and artists that I would never have know about.  I love being able to get my news from a diversity of viewpoints.

However, the management of information has never been harder.  It is easy to fall down the rabbit hole of meaningless links.  One funny YouTube video can consume an hour exploring all the related videos on the side bar.  There is the temptation to taste all the offerings but never enough time for a full meal.  We are forced to glide over the surface of most of the available information due to the overwhelming volume.  We surf past the majority of the content since there is not enough time in the day to truly consume it.  However, it is hard to learn how to pick and choose.

It is so easy to become lost in the process of being informed.
It is so easy to walk in the counsel of worldly digital pundits.
It is so easy to silently revel in the debauchery of the famous.
It is so easy to nod along with the skeptic.

I was curious what content was most sought this last year.  So, I did a little Google-ing and this what I found:

Top Searches on Yahoo in 2013:

miley cyrus
kim kardashian
kate upton
minecraft
selena gomez
obamacare (affordable care act)
amanda bynes
jodi arias
iphone 5
justin bieber

Breakout (Miley Cyrus album) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Top Questions on Yahoo in 2013:
Top Who Question: “who wins the bachelor”
Top What Question: “what is twerking”
Top When Question: “when is thanksgiving”
Top Why Question: “why only 6 jurors in zimmerman trial”
Top How Question: “how to take a screenshot”

The Bachelor (US TV series) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Top Searches on Google in 2013:
Actor:  Miley Cyrus
Musical Artist:  Miley Cyrus
People:  Miley Cyrus
Top TV Shows:  #1The Walking Dead, #2 Breaking Bad
Scientists:  #1 Albert Einstein, #20 Richard Dawkins
Authors:  #1 Tom Clancy, #2 William Shakespeare
Books:  #1 Bible, #2 Fifty Shades of Grey

Fifty Shades of Grey produits dérivés (Photo credit: ActuaLitté)

I am left to wonder what counsel the majority are walking in;
what way are most people standing in;
where are the most popular seats being occupied?

Are not Miley Cyrus, the Kardashians, and Fifty Shades of Grey merely  glamorizing  the ways of sinners? Aren’t seats offered by Richard Dawkins and his like all in the amphitheater of the scoffers?  The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Grand Theft Auto revel in wickedness.  I am thankful that the Bible topped the list of books but I wonder how many who typed that search topic spend their days and nights meditating upon it.

I am reminded of my need to guard my heart.  The internet opens us to many forms of counsel, divergent norms, and normalization of deviating mores.  We all need to be careful to prevent the wave of internet content and information from replacing our time in meditation upon the word of the Lord.  I can be influenced more than I care to admit.  We are all buffeted by the changing winds of our culture and society.  We must be careful and intentional about the content that we immerse ourselves in.

I hope that my top counselor of the 2013 was the Spirit of God.

I hope that the primary way that I stood along this year was that of the righteous.

I hope that the seat I occupied most frequently was that of the one wise in the Lord.

Lel4nd / Foter.com / CC BY

I know that I did not meditate on the precise gift of God’s word like I could have.  Too often, I skimmed and perused.  We all must develop a strategy so that we will not be overwhelmed into indifference by the influences flowing onto our electronic devices throughout the day and night.  For me, this blog is one of my primary methods to help me increase my depth and duration of meditating on scripture.  I know that I am like John Piper in this regard:

I count myself as one of the number of those who learn as they write and write as they learn.
~ John Piper, Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God

Writing helps burrow my mind into the word.  Reading through the Bible in a year (or two) and writing blog posts of what jumps out at me has been the best way for me to discipline myself.  It has created a strategy for me to prioritize God’s Word above all the other influential content that is vying for my attention and my soul.

What helps you to keep the scripture as your delight throughout the year?

PRAYER: O Lord, you know that I delight in a lot of things.  You know that I am easily distracted from the best.  Father, thank you for the internet.  Thank you for this outlet of blogging.  Thank you for making a means for me to meditate more on your word.  Father, give me wisdom to understand where my influences are coming from.  Help me to seek You first.  Grant me a desire for You and your Word.  Make my delights conform to You.   I pray this in the precious name of your Son,  Jesus Christ.   Amen.

Resources:
Google Trends > Top Charts
Yahoo’s Year in Review

“LIARS LIE” – Nov 29

“And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world – he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”  Revelation 12:9

I have known a woman who was a liar.

She did not stretch the truth.
She did not exaggerate.
She did not take liberties.
She did get confused in the grey areas.

She lied.

Her years of elaborate deceptions finally fell apart when the pieces of her puzzle failed to come together.  Once a few of her tales came into question, the remainder of her web quickly crumbled under closer examination.

We found that most of what she portrayed was an elaborate ruse of half-truths and misrepresentation.  She was a magician at distortion.  She understood human behavior like few that I have met at her age.  Her skill allowed her to merge truth and untruth in an amalgam of distortion, misdirection, and outright fabrication.  She created these fantastic fairy tales that were designed to manipulate those who cared about her.

When we picked through the ashes of her falsehoods, we found that she lied even when the truth would have sufficed.  It seemed that the purity of the truth was never sufficient.  She could not allow an unadulterated word pass her lips.

She was a liar.

It is difficult to deal with a liar.  I want to trust people.  I am inclined to believe what I am told.  I easily grant the benefit of the doubt to the spirit behind the words.  However, those tendencies are foolish to convey to someone who struggles with lying.  They thrive on the temptation of the trusting.  A true liar deceives and manipulates the naïve often without them even realizing it.

Only the simple or foolish will blindly trust the words of a liar.  I am on my guard when I am dealing with a message that comes from a liar.  I am cautious of being mislead.  I am inquisitive of underlying assumptions and redefinition of words.  I am hesitant to blindly follow the promises of one tempting my confidence.

I am reminded of the words of the French poet, Charles Baudelaire:
The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he did not exist.

I am continually amazed by the lack of discernment that is shown to the messages of the world.  What do you think is the source behind the common message espoused through various media outlets?

What spirit do you think is behind Richard Dawkins message that there is no God?
What spirit do you think is behind Jon Stewart’s message that Christ is not the only way?
What spirit do you think is behind Rob Bell’s denial of hell?
What spirit do you think is behind Oprah Winfrey’s spirituality?
What spirit do you think substituted Santa for the manager?
What spirit do you think substituted the easter bunny for the Cross?

I am not making aspersion about any person nor am I presuming their motivations.  However, I believe there are spiritual forces in this world that have a strategy of deception.  We are told that Satan is the master of the false message.  The spirit of the great liar is infused into the messages from the world he controls.  His purpose is to lead people astray.  He can manipulate the unsuspecting into advocating an underlying message without ever revealing himself.

Do you believe that? 

I believe that.  It is why I believe that it is critical to judge the spirit behind all the messages that we are persuaded to believe.

Does the message teach that all spirituality must be consistent with the Bible?
Does the message teach that salvation comes by Christ alone?
Does the message teach that all glory is due to God?
Does the message affirm the teachings of prophets, Christ and the Apostles?

We live in a world filled with messages from conflicting winds.  These winds originate from opposing poles.  What you believe will determine where you are blown.

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, SO THAT we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.  (Ephesians 4:11-14, emphasis added)

Those who are not in Christ will be blown about by the deceptive spiritual wind of Satan.  They do not have the Spirit of Christ within them to guide them.  They have not been equipped by the teachings of the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers.  They do not have the knowledge of the Son of God.

Therefore, we must be wise when handling their messages.  We must be discerning.  We must be on our guard.  We must be cautious of being mislead.  We must be inquisitive of underlying assumptions and redefinition of words. We face a liar behind all these messages who is bent on deceiving us.

If you believe that, then you should live in that reality.

We need to learn to trust the reality of the world revealed through scripture and not the one obscured by a liar.  We need to trust the words of the faithful servants of God who are a gift to our souls, given to keep us from being blown astray.

PRAYER: O Lord, thank you for giving us the tools to recognize the message of our enemy.  Thank you for teaching us how to stay close to You.  Thank you for you Spirit who you have sent to guide us.  Lord, open my ears to hear.  Strengthen my heart against all the enticing messages from this world that will blow me astray.  Write your word upon my heart.  Give me wisdom to discern your Spirit.  Grant me understanding to know You.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son,  Jesus Christ.   Amen.

Sources:

Charles Baudelaire Quotes
Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
Jon Stewart on Religion – Morality
Love Wins a Review
The Church of Oprah Winfrey