Sweet Sisters,
I found a verse in Romans recently that “Jumped out at me.” It seemed really appropriate to me for coping with the stuff I am being bombarded with it seems like on a day to day basis.
It reads in Romans 16:19 towards the end of the verse: “but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.”
“SHAZAM!” as Gomer Pile used to say. That is exactly what I was looking for! Permission to step away from the TV, newspapers, talk radio, and social media because I don’t need to be an expert on all the evil that is going on in the world in general. I need to be wise about what is good in the world, especially around me.
Paul and I haven’t had television for at least the past 33 years, so that wasn’t an issue. We don’t subscribe to newspapers or magazines. Paul loves “talk radio” but rarely listens. That’s his thing, now mine.
What had become a big issue for me was Facebook. I noticed that I was spending more and more time on Facebook, especially since Covid entered my world and I was home more. Whenever I sat down I reached for my phone to see what was on Facebook. I would check out posts from a few people I knew but a lot I didn’t know (ie. community Facebook pages) or haven’t actually talked to in years and then move on to YouTube sites. All of a sudden it would dawn on me that I had been looking at Facebook for several hours!
I began to hear a still, quiet voice whisper “Child, this is not a good thing.”
To which I responded,” But I am encouraging people and all my posts are positive. That’s a good thing, right?”
The voice replied, “Yes, you do use if for good but you have become addicted to it and you are being influenced by the dark side far more than any good you are accomplishing.”
I would like to say that this conversation happened once and I immediately obeyed and shut Facebook down, but it took a couple of months of “conversations” between me and “the voice” and my youngest daughter actually coming out on her Facebook and saying, “Enough is enough! Facebook makes me feel dirty. I’m not doing it anymore” and she deleted it from her phone.
I called her and said, “Elana, can you come over and delete Facebook from my phone?”
She said, “Are you sure, mom? Once we do it, you can’t go back” (not ethically anyway).
I said, “I’m sure. Elana, I’ve been fighting it for a long time. It’s something I absolutely need to do.” She came over that night and we sat down and did it.
Ten years I was on Facebook. At times it was a good way to communicate with my girls and old friends, but lately it changed. My girls were no longer on it much and I never saw posts from hardly any of my old friends. I was pushing the “delete” button more and more or “unfollowing” people who now were pushing an agenda that I couldn’t accept. I made the choice to remove it from my life.
It has been a week. I find myself picking up my phone but after I check email messages and my bank statements, I’m pretty much done. My routine has been every morning I make coffee and pick up my phone. Now I make coffee and pick up my Bible. The conversation with the “voice” is much better. “I missed you child. Welcome back.”
Romans 12:1 – 2:
12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 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.
This reminds me that God doesn’t want part of me. He wants all of me. If I want to truly worship God in a way that pleases Him, I will offer my body as a living sacrifice to him and I will transform my mind to think the way He does.
As the old King James Version says, “…which is your reasonable service.”
My Sweet Sisters, what issues are you and “the voice” having conversations about? Maybe it’s time you decide what is “holy and pleasing to God” for you to do in your life.
Debbie ❤