Believer Beware...

 

Believer, beware! Satan is out to get your soul.

Last week, the newspapers in India had a full-page advertisement. “Netflix is dropping its price!” It’s cheaper to have thousands of hours of delectable entertainment at your fingertips now!

A few years ago, 4G internet rolled out in India for very affordable rates. Technology has now advanced to fibre connections for home use and very soon 5G technology for our mobiles. Because of the pandemic, almost every individual has a smartphone including school children. Why should you and I be concerned about this? Isn’t fast, cheap internet a boon for us, our families and the nation?

Narrating another perspective here. Our chief enemy is Satan. He is a master strategist who uses every trick up his sleeve to make us fall. He uses the world and our flesh to trap us, and as the accuser, he will be ready to accuse us when we slip. He is using the infrastructure of internet & our devices (which we pay for and maintain) to deliver to our doorstep ‘goods’ that can be detrimental to our relationship with the Lord.

The movies and TV shows of the world has filth. Be it language, violence, sexuality or ideas, perversity floats on almost every piece of information transacted. Gone are the days when scenes and dialogues were just suggestive. It is now fully explicit. Violence and drug abuse is passed off as a norm, foul language is passed off as being true to your emotions. Nudity (A classy word for pornography) is passed off as erotica or displaying reality. The pattern is something like this – An ‘everyday’ or ‘normal’ situation such as a hospital scene, a police/detective setup or an office scene is where the premise is set. This makes it easily relatable to a common man. Then the plot is laid out – an unexpected turn of events, a suspense, a hard to overcome situation. They have our attention. Now to increase the ‘kick’(so that we come back for more), there is a sexually explicit scene/ a drug abuse/ extreme violence, all coupled with lewd language. By this time, our mind, body and emotions are so engrossed and consumed by what’s happening. Congratulations, you have just got yourself hooked on to a ploy of the evil one. In the realm of the fantasy/ sci-fi world, there aren’t these common boundaries as well. The only limit to perversion is how much my mind can imagine.

When I was in school, a well-known fable was told to us. An elephant becomes friends with a tailor and visits him regularly to eat bananas. One day, just for the sake of it, the tailor inserts a needle into the banana before giving it to the elephant. The elephant innocently takes the ‘harmless’ banana but then feels the pain of the sting after it consumes it.

The phone or internet is like the banana, but what it carries is a painful needle that will hurt us. No, Netflix, prime video, hotstar, youtube, instagram, facebook or any other destination on the internet is not a harmless place anymore.

 

It doesn’t end there. As Romans 1 says, they not only continue to practice this but approve those who practice them as well. Isn’t that exactly what reviewers such as IMDB do? Suppose a movie or a TV show is well shot, well written and well-acted, it is lifted high in praise. Raving reviews, glittering awards and a promise for a sequel will be expected. Hashtags will make it popular. Our friends/ colleagues will keep talking about it creating a sense of FOMO for us. But this is exactly what the world will do!

As long as we are in this flesh, we are vulnerable to sin. The Bible warns us to be on guard, at all times, because sin is lurking in the corner. In an ICU where there are 10’s of COVID patients, and I have to work there, I can’t just walk into the room with my normal clothes and pretend as if nothing can touch me. I mask up. I suit up. I wash my hands as often as I can so that I don’t catch the dreaded virus. You and I can’t walk into this world just like that expecting nothing can touch us. We take precautions and I can’t say enough how much careful I should be before indulging myself into a virtual, secret world where my bare senses will be pleasured, when in reality, it is coiled and ready to hurt me at the core – my relationship with a patient, loving and a Savior God.

What’s the antidote?

Common solutions to overcome habits are – avoid them as much as you can or replace a bad habit with a healthy habit. Find your purpose and immerse yourself in it! They are practical ideas but not fool proof. We can’t be 100% away from the internet. A lot of our work will be online in the coming days. Mobile recharges and other purchases will give us free access to these streaming sites. I don’t even have to pay for it! Good habits are good always, but if it’s a 1 on 1 duel with an unhealthy habit especially when I am feeling weak, I would put my bet on the bad habit to win. Also, living out our purpose is a wonderful way to be engaged, but just that itself is not enough to keep us from sin.

The only answer I can think of, which I am borrowing from John Piper, is making JESUS my supreme, premier & first love. A love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all!

 

A love so deep

That makes me feel

How much my Saviour bore for me.

A knowledge of the Holy One

That is comparable to none

And tears apart the lies of the evil one

 

A conviction that’s set

From the Truth of His Word

That empowers me to shun the world.

 

He is my all-consuming, passionate desire to which there is no equal.

For many including me, the time with our phones is spent as our alone time. After a stressful, difficult day, we unwind by mindlessly scrolling our phones or follow a series/ social media/or a game. Again, a vulnerable moment for anyone. I don’t know about you, but if this time gets interrupted, I get very irritated. That’s not a healthy sign. It reeks of selfishness, a craving for pleasure that’s instantaneous. Many people struggle with this late at night, when the lights are off.  Compare it to Psalmist who says in Psalm 63 - I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night. If God is not our higher, superior & greater joy, this can be an everyday battle for us.

If you are going through this trial of trying to win the battle with the evil one, specifically with respect to addictions to the streaming apps, I would encourage you to pray James 1:5. When we humbly ask God for wisdom to not love the world, He answers us and shows us a way out.

 

P.S: I am writing this out a place of brokenness. I don’t claim to have succeeded or won. This is a struggle for my wife and me as well and we are trying to break free from this as well. Off-late, I have felt this stronger in my heart and wanted to share with other followers of Christ.