First World Problems?
I got a bit overwhelmed today. I had 1 million discussions on Facebook pounding in my head, phone calls, texts, e-mails, deadlines and all sort of things pressing to become priority. With so much weight and information vying for my attention its hard not to feel overwhelmed. I feel a bit encumbered. As if the whole world is closing in around me.
Its easy for us as Christians in the west to dismiss the trapping and troubles of modernity as nothing more than “first world problems.” But in dismissing them we take away or tools for fighting them and fight them we must. Just because we are not waging a physical war for our souls (as is the case of martyrs and missionaries around the world) we are waging a war. Our war happens in the head.
The Devil You Know
The evils of this world have never been more available to humans. We are painfully pulled in all directions and our ragged souls are proof. King David lamented that his enemies encompassed him, for him it was literal. For us our enemy has encompassed us in a sneaky sort of way but just as crippling. While enemies of old oppressed the bodies, the new age enemy strives to enslave our attention.
It is a terrible thing to live your life so weighed down with the things of this life. To feel overwhelmed and overcome. I think my instinct is to get rid of the things bothering me. “I’ll get off Facebook,” “I won’t watch so much t.v.” These things can be as much an oppressor as any demon (that is not to say they are demons). Remember the story Jesus told about a man who had a devil in his house. He cast the devil from his house and left it empty and seven more filled its space. If you do unencumber yourself from worldly things; do not forget to fill in the spaces with good things.
You will always be surrounded. BUT you have a choice in what surrounds you. Start replacing the things surrounding you that overwhelm you with things that encourage you, breathe life into you and build you up. Understand that you’re in real danger of losing the war for your soul if you do not surround yourself with the host of heaven.
lofteideas 