Throw Away the World’s Bag of Chips

We’ve all heard the phrase, you are what you eat. Of course, we often ignore this and have days where we become a bag of chips instead of a fresh salad. I think a similar phrase could be coined about our consumption of media, you are what you watch, read, listen to. What we put inside our minds and hearts matters. Our identity, as Christians, is anchored in Christ alone, but what we consume can unconsciously shape our actions and worldview. Just like food takes some time to cycle through the body and impact your waistline, the content we consume will simmer inside and eventually start to show – for better or worse.

What Are You Consuming?

I’m not going to say stop watching Netflix and scrolling through memes. I’m going to say reflect genuinely on what you’re consuming. It’s actually fair to say you can watch a movie or show that doesn’t line up well theologically (but might be hilarious nonetheless) without simply internalizing those messages as truth. We have an ability to think critically and sift through what gets thrown at us and then rip it apart for the ways it doesn’t articulate Gospel truth. But I am going to say, make sure you’re actually doing that. Make sure you take a step back and reject Satan’s sneaky messages. Secondly, are you offsetting those falsehoods with God truths?

Play the numbers game. Look at your day, your week… how many hours do you spending binge watching Netflix, scrolling through memes, laughing at stand-up comedy or sitcoms, versus the hours you spend reading the Bible, listening to faith-based podcasts, playing worship music? This is not a guilt trip. It’s an ‘aha’ moment. It’s a chance to balance out your life a little and explore new options that will make God’s word come alive.

The Bible is Exciting 

Let me be honest and transparent with you: the idea of reading the Bible often sounds boring to me. I haven’t been doing it often enough. In fact, if it wasn’t for Sunday mornings and small group would I read it at all? I don’t even want to answer that, but over the last couple weeks God keeps bringing me back to the topic of His Word and the idea that the Bible is actually interesting and exciting. Ahem, let me repeat that, the Bible is interesting and exciting. Some of you are saying Amen! And others of you have already kind of rolled your eyes and said, yeahh, sure…

So here’s the deal, I’m going to argue that the Bible seems boring because we don’t actually get it most of the time and it’s not coming alive in our life. Two weekends ago I was offered the opportunity to attend the women’s conference at Harvest Bible Chapel last minute. It was fantastic. Let me introduce you to Nancy Guthrie because I actually cannot get enough of this woman’s teaching. She is someone who dedicates her time to ‘getting it’ when it comes to the Bible and let me tell you, I’m finally starting to see how the Bible is interesting and exciting. It all connects! The Bible is not a book of separate stories and ideas with some boring genealogies and excessive descriptions thrown in there. It is an intricate narrative with a specific message woven through the entire thing from Genesis to Revelations and it involves us. Yes, we are part of the Biblical story because the story is a living thing not just an historical text.

The Scripture is Alive

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3: 16-17

Just like God breathes life into us, God has breathed Scripture and it is living and working out in our lives. But the only way we are going to catch the fever of this story is if we start to spend time reading and understanding it. And you can start with podcasts of other people reading and explaining it *ahem, RightNow Media*. Yeah, that’s okay, because it’s going to stir an excitement in you and an interest in discovering all the cool, genius ways that God has put His plan together and that will overflow into you picking up that Bible yourself!

Mending our Hearts

I loved RD’s ‘Geek Out’ this Sunday on the meaning of the word equipped. It is not simply a readiness but the mending and repairing of our hearts, which is what makes us ready. This is exactly what the narrative of the Bible is spelling out. God is taking a broken and rebellious Adam and Eve, a broken and rebellious Israel, a broken and rebellious you and me and He’s repairing and mending us at a heart level. It is out of that process that our thoughts and words and actions change resulting in what turns out to be good works. God is calling out to us saying, ‘draw near to me, let me fill you, let me fill the void of your desires.’ All that Netflix binging we do to numb ourselves can be replaced with the joy of the Lord. The joy of understanding not only that you are a loved son or daughter of the Most High God, but why you are here and what the heck you should be doing with your time.

Yoke Yourself to Jesus

“Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11: 28-30

Are you looking for rest? Satisfaction? Direction? Yoke yourself to Jesus. You might trip a bit and feel pulled and have to deviate from your own course but eventually you’ll fall in step with Him and discover that your burden has been lifted, that the way is clear and filled with joy. You’ll start to see the evidence of his mending and repairing work on your heart. Yoke yourself to Jesus by talking to Him. You want to hear His voice? Read His word. God speaks to us through His living word so let’s dig into it, start to ‘get it’, start to see the exciting role we have in God’s narrative and watch it all connect. Watch it transform your life, watch it produce good works, watch it breathe new life in you and your marriage, and your children, and your relationships, and your career, and your desires… and maybe, just maybe you’ll naturally start spending more time hanging out with Jesus in the Word than chomping on the world’s bags of chips.

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Current Recommendations:

• You can hear the speakers from the conference I attended online. Harvest Bible Chapel generously recorded the speakers from the Radiant Conference http://radiantconference.ca/
• This is relevant for Men and Women to listen to! Nancy’s sessions have dramatically transformed how I understand and read the Bible. You can follow up with more of her content on RightNow Media.
• You’ll also find the speakers from the Workshops massively transformative.