Technological distractions

John Piper is famous for, among other things, not owning a TV. He's written a little bit on it, and the trend seems to be catching on. One of the Cathy brothers, bringers of the Chick-Fil-A, aka heaven on earth, wrote a nice post that is probably better said than anything I could ever hope to say: 


http://www.cathyfamily.com/BlogPost.aspx?post=746


"We have all been given the same amount of time in every day: 24 hours. That's 168 hours each week. Nobody gets more or less. The only difference we all have is how we choose to use it. Ephesians 5:15-17 states: "Look carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of your time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."

I would never try to tell anyone what God's will for their life is, but I have to believe that our potential to impact the world for Him greatly increases when we're not being couch potatoes!"

I did a short study on that phrase Ephesians uses "making the best use." It turns out what the ESV turns into a phrase (and probably rightly so) is a single word in Greek, ex-agorazw. You probably heard about the Greek Agora in history class, it was just the marketplace in the city, where you bought things. So to "ex"-buy something is literally to buy back; someone took it from you and you are going to go and re-buy it. 

You may already see where this word study is going: the normal word to express physical or spiritual redemption has to do with a loosening or an untying (Jeremiah 15:20 tells us that God will loose/redeem Israel from the grasp of the ruthless); however, in Galatians 3 and 4 Paul instead uses this word ex-agorazw of Jesus' taking us out from the curse of the law. When the law was given, the Hebrews were trapped in it, serving the law. Jesus came and bought us out from the law; instead of being mastered by the rituals, we are now adopted as sons, heirs to God's throne (Galatians 4:3-5).

Ephesians 5 turns a similar phrase to how we as believers and sons of God should operate with time. The days are evil, the devil still has dominion over nearly everything around us (Eph 2:1-3), but we have been bought out from this world into God's kingdom and we are now on His time. We should be focusing on giving light to the world, not becoming partners with the darkness.

Does this mean we are sinning when we watch TV, when we daddle on blogs (even blogs that talk about the Bible!), or when we just lounge around? I don't think so, but it does mean I am going to aim to be much more intentional with my time, to buy it back from the world's desires and instead seek to use it for good and God's glory. Even while in seminary, where it seems most of my free time (if I want to pass my courses and move on) is devoted to theological education that I know is so good for me, I realize it is still so easy to waste the precious resources I have been given. Time is a very valuable gift from God - may I always make the best use of it as the Lord wills.