The biggest threat to our national parks isn’t global warming, polluted water; inconsiderate campers or out-of-control snowmobilers. It’s the time we spend in front of a screen. A couple of researches recently studied tourism in the US national parks, and found that park visits grew steadily over the course of 57 years, from 1930 to 1987. Then, over the next 16 years, visitation dropped by 25 percent—a serious and significant decline.
So what’s the reason? Biologist Oliver Pergams and research associate Patricia Zaradic determined that 97.5 percent of the drop was due to the ever-increasing time we are spending surfing the Internet, playing video games, and watching movies and television shows. Rising gas prices have had an effect as well, since the cost of a gallon is naturally going to inspire us to stay home with video games instead of drive to Yellowstone. In the year 2003, the average American was spending 327 more hours in front of the screen than they were 16 years earlier.
Now you may wonder how is this the biggest threat to our national parks. The problem is, if you’re spending an extra hour a day in front of a computer or television, you’re not spending that time out of doors. And if your’ not out of doors, you’re not in a park. And if you’re not in a park, you’re not deepening your passion for the environment. And if you’re not feeling passionate about nature, you’re not as likely to practice environmentally responsible behavior. If people are less interested in nature, they’re going to become less interested in conservation, weakening our bonds with our national parks, and reducing our passion to preserve them.
Video games, television shows, DVDs, email, IMs, the World Wide Web and Facebook are all screen-based sedentary attractions, and are sucking up an increasing amount of our time. All of these media we can click through, picking out certain ones to read. We click through the numerous stations on cable TV or Dish network and listen for 15 minutes (if that long) and move on.
It seems perfectly normal in a culture of convenience, a twitch culture of shrinking attention spans, video mania and instant gratification. A harmless habit, perhaps, when we don’t’ have anything else to do. Still, all habits, even the most harmless have a way of shaping our lives, including our imagination and our capacity for faithful living over the long haul. Our habits are those practices that will make us who we are; If your attention span is shaped to take pleasure in 15-minute gulps it’s less likely that you will be able to give your full attention to anyone or anything, including God, for more than a few minutes. That is the subtle way that habits work in our lives.
Here’s the kicker: Too often we approach discipleship as something we can drop in on, click through whenever we feel like it. In fact, the common complaint about Christians is that too many are Sunday Christians, but not Monday Christians. Christians for one day of the week, while checking their faith at the door for the rest of the week.
Our clicking-through-the-stations habits mirror a spiritual crossover trend that most of us would rather not admit; a style of click-through spirituality or click-through discipleship where we nod to God for a few quick devotional minutes and then we’re on our way, business as usual. A little taste of upbeat worship here, a sip of Bible reading there, not too deep and nothing that challenges our imagination. It’s a momentary feeling of satisfaction, but if that is all we ever have time for in our lives with God then it’s a false comfort; a habit that will keep us from going deeper with God and drinking deeply from the well of life.
This sort of religious consumerism is antithetical to a mature life with God, growing in wisdom and faithful discipleship. Growing in our relationship with God is not going to happen with just a little dip here and a sip there. Such forays into tepid spirituality freeze-frames us in spiritual infancy, perpetually clutching our spiritual sippy cups. God has something much different in mind, a life that is far deeper; richer and more fulfilling than a quick fix. It is like a choice between famine and feast.
The prophet Isaiah presents a different vision in which we are invited to embrace the abundant life in the presence of God” (Read v. 1-2)
Notice the imperatives of these verses:
Come—God sets the table, but we have to pull up the chair. The disciple has to respond
to God’s faithfulness by taking action of one’s own.
--Come to the waters—the Living Water is Jesus Christ. It reminds me of the story of the Samaritan woman at the well that Jesus met one hot afternoon. He asked for a drink of water. And offered her living water so she would never thirst again.
--Come everyone who thirst—Come to the waters—Come to Jesus. When we turn to God in hope and expectation, we find that we are refreshed and renewed, like people stopping at a pool in the desert. Time spent with God helps us to regain a proper perspective, reorder our disordered loves, and redirect our lives to what is good and true and worthwhile. It also provides the spiritual sustenance we need to face the demands of our daily work.
Buy—Or buy into. Commit. Take the step, the leap, the plunge
Buy wine and milk—Jesus’ living water leads to more richness that Jesus offers
Eat what is good and delight yourselves in rich food. There is more nourishment to be found in prayer than in any form of screen-based communication. Prayer takes us deep, exposes sin, unites us with God, calls forth a new person, gives peace and joy. That’s rich food. That’s real nourishment.
Eat—Partake. Experience. Taste. Savor the goodness of God.
What’s the imperative in v.2-3? Listen—Pay attention. Discriminate. Be attuned to the voice of God, and tune out competing voices—whether cultural, secular or the voice of entertainment and peers.
Hear me—Fix the spiritual ear so that the voice of God can be heard. Get rid of the noise and interference that can drown out the voice of God. Dig out the spiritual earwax that reduces the voice of God to a muffle.
Love of God tunes us into the Word of God. The words of Scripture provide an assurance of God’s love for us, and a reminder of what God desires for us—messages that we simply cannot find in any of the electronic entertainments that surround us every day. God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and God’s ways are not our ways, so we must turn to Scripture to gain access to the Lord’s plan and purpose. It’s only in the word of God that we find an assurance of forgiveness when we have sinned, and a message of direction when we are in need of guidance.
What is the imperative in v.4-5?
See—Look, watch God at work, notice what’s happening around you.
Seek the Lord while he may be found. Pursue single-mindedly, search diligently for. Make the presence of God a priority. Take advantage of the opportunities to walk with God while you still have them.
What are the imperatives in v. 7
Forsake—Abandon whatever doesn’t work for your relationship with God. Decide what is holding you back, and let these things go.
v. 7b Return to—after letting go of the bad, grab the good. Turn to what is right good and positive. Turn to God for forgiveness and mercy.
The life that God invites us into is not a click-through relationship or one that involves a few minutes here and there whenever it happens to be convenient. Rather, the mature life of faith with God is one that feasts on the riches of a deep and abiding relationship with him. It is not a fast-food religion that God wants. No, the prophet tells us it is much more like a long, sumptuous dinner, linger over the meal, savoring the taste, enjoying the conversation. This kind of deep maturity with God means spending the necessary time pursuing this relationship; the kind of time that one would give to any pursuit that is worthy of your full attention.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? The poet Mary Oliver asks a similar question, “Tell me what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?
What will we do?
I invite you to come, buy, eat, listen, hear, forsake, and turn to God who us calls us by name—who calls us to himself.
Clicking through and stopping by is not enough. Discipleship is an adventure we want to be a part of from start to finish. So turn off your screens. Clear your calendars. Take back some of the hours that you have lost to electronics and put them into prayer and Scripture. It’s time to gather our thoughts, quiet our heart, and renew our love affair with God.
