Is it ironic that by being an internet busy body I found an article that convicted me of that very sin - being an internet busy body?
Most of you may say, "Surprise, surprise- for years I have said that Facebook is a time waster." Yet I always tend to defend my hour or more internet browsing sessions by saying that I read a lot of devotionals and Christian blogs. I'm not just gawking at Facebook or reading the latest gossip on Kim Kardashian (I get that by simply reading the covers of magazines when I'm checking out at Jewel), I'm reading articles that increase my faith and help me be a better homemaker, friend, and wife. Or at least that's what I've been telling myself. Until recently I read this quote:
Sin is giving in to the temptation to be a busy-body by giving my attention to worthless and sometimes meaningless information that swirls around in my head, taking up mind and heart space that should be occupied by prayers and purpose.
In this internet age there is SO much information. Tons of it. Tons of great articles, great blogs, great insights. Yet, at what point do I stop gathering information and start acting on it? At what point does my internet Christian reading actually become a time waster because I'm not spending my time the way God wants me to. What if God would rather me walk away from my computer and actually start living out my faith, whether it be serving my husband better, or writing a note to a friend, or talking directly to Him through pray rather than just reading about Him all the time?
During these past couple years of being a "blogger," I have found many blogs written by godly women who share what the Lord is doing in their life. And can I be completely honest with you? Recently I have found myself sharing more about what God is teaching other people and how interesting I find it to be, than what God is actually teaching me. That is pretty painful to admit.
On one hand I love sharing helpful articles and blogs written by other people and my hope is that people read them and are encouraged. On the other hand, normally what I share just stimulated my thinking for about 5 minutes and that was it. Very rarely do I take to heart what they are saying because I quickly find another godly article that stimulates my faith in a different way and soon enough I've forgotten the previous thought.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that there is a lot of great wisdom flowing into my mind from other blogs but I'm not sure how these things are actually changing my life. I don't see a lot of the wisdom that I am reading about impacting how I actually live out my life for God. And, I'm pretty sure it's because I'm an internet busy body. Moving from one spiritual insight to the next.
So, here's what I've decided. To keep myself in check, I'm going to wait sharing whatever it is that I find on line, until I have really taken in the information. Until I have prayed about what God wanted to teach me through that article or blog. Until I am seeing some type of fruit from what the other person shared. This doesn't mean I can never again mention an interesting article or blog that I found as an aside (that would just be silly). And I am certainly not saying this is what everyone needs to do before they share an article. But, right now, where I am, it is what I need to do to keep myself in check. I've seen my sin, I've repented, and I'm turning in a different direction. This is me turning :)
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