distractions and self-control

The point is that we all do exactly what we want to do. We eat what we want to eat, watch what we want to watch, listen to what we want to hear, read what we want to read and so on. That is why I wrote The Lie articles and why John Piper pushes the idea of Christian Hedonism. We have to reorder our desires from the lesser to the greater with God’s grace and power and thus become transformed. II Peter 1:3 and II Cor. 3:18

This article about the temptations of being distracted by Facebook instead of reading the Bible or doing necessary schoolwork is a great example of the need for a conscious decision to put the best first ahead of everything else.

Later on that evening, I thought more about my internal battle between Facebook and my Bible. I understand that one of my desires as a Christian should be to know God more deeply; the reality is that I spend very little time actually getting to know Him. Too often, my hours are spent pursuing other human beings through convenient electronic means like Facebook. My life can quickly become all about striving to know my buddies better than my Lord.
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Honestly, I don’t think I understand the gravity of my distain [sic] of daily time with God. It’s not an issue of salvation, of course, but I do think that it’s essential to my spiritual health and growth. The thing is, I can spend hours upon hours on the internet browsing Facebook or messing with my electronic devices; I find it absolutely disgusting when this takes the place of God.

What is my true priority in life? I need a serious wake-up call.
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Scripture is not only profitable for me, but it’s absolutely essential in order to be competent and to live my life well. Within those sacred pages I find everything that God has deemed necessary to tell me. There is so much depth and wisdom within those pages. Yet I somehow buy into the lie that the Bible is just boring and not worth my time. How would my life look if I poured myself into the pages of my Bible instead of pouring myself into the pages of Facebook? Radically different, I think.

Go read the rest of it.

Hat tip to Challies.