"Lucky, lucky, lucky me, I'm a lucky son of a gun. I work eight hours, I sleep eight hours, that leaves eight hours for fun!" About 80% of my fellow Americans claim to be Christian. The average U.S. household has 4.4 Bibles. [I actually have .4 of a Bible - it is a Gideon New Testament with the Psalms and Proverbs]. But 57% of Christians read their Bibles four times a year or less. 26% of Americans said they read their Bible on a regular basis. Those that read the Bible on a weekly basis commit on average about one hour per week. What happens to the other hours? In 2012, Americans averaged 34 hours per week watching television. The good news is that the time spent on TV dropped in 2013 to 32 hours. The bad news is that time spent on our digital devices took up the slack - we spend 36 hours per week on these! Radio usage has been declining -we only spend 10 hours per week listening to the radio (I'm guessing mostly in the car). That, folks, constitutes almost 80 hours of our week. Granted, some of us are talented at multi-tasking. We play games on our smartphone while watching the Yanks-Red Sox game on TV. So the actual hours spent on amusement may be less. To these amusements we can add watching movies on Netflix, pursuing hobbies, watching our children play soccer, taking vacations, reading magazines and fiction, running while listening to our Ipod and complaining about how we don't have enough time. Men, We Spend Our Time and Money on What We Love Disney is a diversified company with theme parks, movie studios, and a television network (ABC) among other ventures. But 57% of Disney's revenue is from cable television, with the majority coming from one source: ESPN. It recently accounted for $10.3 billion of revenue in one quarter. Not bad for a venture that originally aired Australian Rules Football. No one thought that an all-sports network could survive much less thrive when it began in 1979. Now its old slogan "All Sports, All the Time" has become a reality. Now there is a need for ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN Classic, the Longhorn Network, and the SEC Network. Have I left anything out? Well, there are its competitors, Fox Sports et al. Sadly, there is even a 24 hour Golf Channel. I have to admit something right now - I have spent way too much time as a sports spectator, and it has harmed my walk with the Lord. I suspect many of you are in the same boat. Have any of you spent a whole Saturday watching college football? We mark the year based on our sports: the College Bowl season, the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl, March Madness, Baseball, the Masters, the Kentucky Derby, the NBA and NHL playoffs, Wimbledon, Football season starts, the World Series, and round and round it goes. Then every two years we experience an Olympic Games. Rio De Janeiro has the daily double: the World Cup in 2014 and then the Summer Games. It has spent $11 billion preparing for the upcoming soccer tournament. It is projected that Brazil will spend $3.1 billon during the 2016 Summer Games. This does not include the approximately $11 billion for construction projects to prepare for the three-week event. Women, I don't want you to feel left out. I know you are wasting your hours also. Chances are that you are on your laptop while watching Dancing With the Stars or a TV romance or drama. What does Jesus say to these things? "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." [How about sports, entertainment, and pleasure?]" Is Jesus Our LORD? We have a self-control problem. In fact, this is a main feature of living in the last days: "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, without self-control, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." We are idolaters, living in a sea of idolatry. Paul frightened Felix when he spoke of "righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come." Are we frightened by our lack of self-control? "For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. DO NOT BE IDOLATERS, as some of them were; as it is written, 'the people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.' Therefore, let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall." "Therefore, my beloved, flee idolatry. All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify." "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore, I run in such a way as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified." "No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. Also if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not win the prize unless he competes according to the rules. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work." I'm Convicted, How About You? What Can We Do? After struggling with my addiction to sports and entertainment for many years of my Christian life, I am coming to a stunning conclusion: I may not be able to exercise moderation in these things. What can I do to stop the madness? Two thoughts: Perhaps it is time to take radical action, to "pluck out the offending eye." Cancel cable. Cancel Netflix. Cancel XM Radio. Put parental controls on the laptop, restricting hours of usage. Get rid of the smartphone apps. Throw away the gaming devices. Get rid of Hulu. No tweeting, no texting, no You Tubing. No more watching Dancing With the Stars, The Voice, American Idol, America's Got Talent, The Amazing Race... Then, maybe it is time to replace the 80 hours with Bible reading, prayer, and Christian service. [For many of us, even sloth would be an improvement over the time we waste via media. We could start by doing nothing - fasting from our media obsession]. There is also something satisfying about making a to-do list every day and crossing off your accomplishments. I put down "finish tax return" this morning, and actually have it 98% done! If this has hit home (which it has for me), praise God! He loves it when His children beat their breast and weep "Be merciful to me, O God, a sinner!" Let us forget what lies behind, and press on to the upward call. Your fellow struggling brother in Christ, Dale |
