This article was imported from our previous website, which many have broken some of the content. We apologize in advance for any strange formatting or broken links you may find.
Noise. Constant noise.
Whether it is music, a TV show, a podcast, the latest trending YouTube clip or pulling out my phone to check Facebook or Twitter, I always have something on.
It hit me recently that I am addicted. I realized I am afraid. Afraid to be alone. Afraid of the silence. I am addicted to noise.
This awareness comes at the same time that I have a growing desire to listen and hear the voice of God in my life. I desire to abide in Christ (John 15), to listen and respond to the Good Shepherd who leads His sheep (John 10:27-28), but digital noise is blocking that voice.
I am amusing myself into some sort of spiritual death.[1]
If things don’t change, it will be a constant barrage of static that will keep me busy and occupied, but never listening to the God of the universe. I don’t want that and I don’t think He wants that for me either.
So what do I do? How do I right this trend?
In going through my notebook recently, I found this D.A. Carson quote again and it spoke to me:
People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.[2]
The season of Lent reminds me that there are times where we give up something to gain something much richer. In this season I am giving up the digital noise (especially podcasts and YouTube). I am giving up the need to constantly fill my surroundings with meaningless noise.
I want to be stretched to allow God to speak in His “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:11-12, NKJV). I want to hear Him, but I know that means I have to listen, and the only way to listen is to create the silence to hear.
Christ said He came that we “may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Digital noise may not be your issue, but we all have things we need to lay down in order to gain Christ (Philippians 3:8). During this season, consider joining me in choosing the abundant life Jesus invites us all into.
[1] See Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. Penguin Books. 2005.
[2] D.A. Carson, For the Love of God, Volume 2: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God’s Word. Crossway. 2006.