"Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do." James 1:24-25
Many of us are very forgetful these days. We forget where we put our eyeglasses when their on the top of our head. We forget where we put our car keys and cellphone when their in our hand. We forget the milk at the store, the main thing we went to get. Sometimes, we even forget what day it is. I personally believe we're on sensory overload. Our minds are over stimulated. We are grieving the Holy Spirit by short-circuiting our creative genius with too much television, too many movies, too many computers, too much texting, and the wrong types of programming.
Moreover, we're caught up in the sensational, and the next "breaking news" event. We're caught up in the lavish lifestyles of the rich and famous, and in the "he said-she said" of reality tv and entertainment television. We go to church on Sunday and by Monday we can't remember what the preacher preached about. All we know is the choir sure did sing, and the preacher sure did preach. And yet, everybody wants to be prosperous and everybody wants to know their purpose, but nobody want to obey God's word, or so it seems.
The Bible says, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will" (Romans 12:1) and "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things"(Philippians 4:8).
How are our young people going to get a quality education, succeed in life, and become the next Gabby Douglass, or president of the United States on this kind of diet? How are they going to grow in Christ, for that matter? I'm sorry, but a mind that is constantly feasting on denegrating garbage can't possibly master the balance beam and stick the landing, let alone stick an exceptional ACT score. It's a mind unstable in all its ways. Can God direct it? I just saying.
When visiting Koreatown, I'm always struck by how many tutorial businesses and music/art studios are thriving. We've yet to even see a Kumon in the Inglewood, Windsor Hills, Ladera area in Southern California, but we have plenty of boutiques, hair emporiums and nail shops. Nothing wrong with it, but we need balance. Of course, kids in China and Bangalore hang out. They play, but they also work together on homework and problem solving. They watch movies and also read.
ReplyDeleteI think the real hitch in the getalong is that for kids to watch less television, play fewer games, focus, adults would have to do the same.
liftingasweclimb,
DeleteWell said. Thank you for sharing your first-hand perspective from Southern California and Koreatown. Kids do what the adults do and not what they say. Adults are not setting the standard nor are they standing up for balance. Sure, we are doing well in the Olympics, leading my a decent margin in the medal count when last I looked. But when it comes to education, we ae lagging behind many of these nations whose top priority is education.
I still say that while a different app and gadget comes on the market every week, we are more distracted than ever before. Everyone walks around with their head down in their cellphone, texting, tweeting, or talking. You can never be sure if the person in the room with you is paying attention to what you are saying...."Huh, what did you say?" That is what I hear on the job, at school, at church, and at home. I just saw where some young person just won $50,000 for winning a texting competion. The story didn't say how much he texted to win, but you'd have to imagine his focus has been totalling centered on his phone for a long, long time. I wonder what is room looks like. Does he take out the garbage without being asked, do chores around the house? What is is relationship like with his parents and sibling, provided their not in his text world. This is the trend I see as troubling.