So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.  Ephesians 5:15-17 NLT

Feeling distracted lately? In this hyper-connected world, distraction is our constant companion and temptation. We take in so much information, so many images and so much stimulation, that before you know it, time is gone. Not only that, but mindless scrolling focuses my mind on what the Bible calls “the world.” This includes things like “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.” (2 John 2:16)

When it comes to making good choices about the activities and influences I let into my life, I love the advice written long ago by the mother of 19 children.  Susanna Wesley lived from 1669 to 1742.  She was known to flip her apron over her head in the midst of chaos to be alone and pray. Susanna is said to have shared these guidelines in a letter to her son John. “Son,” she wrote:

[When] “you judge the lawfulness of a pleasure take this rule: Whatever
weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience,
obscures your sense of God or takes away the relish of spiritual things;
whatever increases the authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin.”

Susanna would have probably called a lot of what we take in today, “noise.” Adding to the Noise, was the name of a song by the rock band, Switchfoot.  In their words, “If we’re adding to the noise, turn off this song.”[1] The best choice today may be to turn it off.

 

Resource Reading: 2 John 2:15-17

[1] Foreman, Jonathan Mark, and Timothy David Foreman. “Adding to the Noise Lyrics.” Adding To The Noise Lyrics – Follow Lyrics, Red Ink, 2003, https://www.followlyrics.com/lyrics/2269965/Adding-To-The-Noise.