Matthew 11:28-30 – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
John 14:27 – “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
2 Thessalonians 3:16 – “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.”
Colossians 3:15 – “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.”
Romans 8:6 – “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.”
1 Peter 5:7 – “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
Romans 15:13 – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”
This is just a small sampling of scriptures that highlight the call we must abide in Christ and be at peace in a world that’ll do everything it can to destroy your peace or offer an empty peace through commitment to tribalism. We are known by the fruit we produce. We produce fruit based on where our nutrients come from. The world produces a bitter fruit of anxiety, anger, rage, suspicion, selfishness, factions, and the like (Galatians 5:19-21 adapted). The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against these things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other (5:22-26).
We’re finishing up our study on the need for creating a “rule of life,” a structure built to aid in helping us abide in Christ. This structure is essential for connecting you to the vine and producing the fruit God desires. One of the first steps to building this structure is to recognize any structures that get in the way of you abiding in Christ. This is one of the hardest parts about spiritual formation. When Jesus says, “his yoke is easy and his burden is light,” he means it. The part that is hard and heavy is taking the yoke of the world off. When Jesus invites us into life with him he also invites us into death with the world. To take on his yoke we must first take off the yoke of the world. Then we will see that his yoke is easy and burden light.
When developing a Rule of Life, it is important to have a balance of practices that add things to your life and practices that take away things from your life. As we wrap up this series, I want to focus on one final practice that I am heavily reevaluating in my own life: unplugging.
There is a ton of research on how social media has influenced our young people and has altered our view of reality. We’ve become more compulsive with smart phones and smart watches (checking our phones roughly every 6.5 min). Evaluating ourselves against the best (and not even real) versions of our friends on social media creates image issues and shifts a life filled with joy to a life of desire for whatever it is that they have. The internet and social media were intended to create a world of connectivity where ideas could be shared but instead it has fostered siloed thinking where people intrench themselves into their camps and fight ghosts on the internet that have no real implications for them. This leaves people suspicious of others and promotes gossip rather than hard conversations which lead to compassion, understanding, and growth.
If you don’t struggle with social media and your phone the way 84% of the population does, there are other areas where a lot of Christians need to develop practices of unplugging. One major place along with cell phones and social media is unplugging from the news media. I’m not talking about one specific news media, whether liberal, conservative, or neutral. I’m talking about all news media. The entire news media enterprise is focused on keeping your attention and the best way they have figured out how to do that is through sensationalism, anger, rage, and tribalism. Like social media, there are lots of studies on how the 24-hour news cycle has shifted and polarized our culture. If you cannot hear an opinion different from yours without labeling them, name calling, getting angry, or seeking out scripture to prove them wrong, then you probably need to unplug because your mass consumption of news keeps you from hearing others with love, compassion, peace, and joy.
The 24-hour news cycle, news apps, and their social media handles all aim at keeping your attention and inviting you to abide in the destruction and dismay they are promoting. The coined term for the situation we are currently in is called “doom scrolling” where people swipe their phones to see one atrocity after another. This isn’t to say they are making these events up but to say they are keeping your attention on the despair of the world. It’s time to unplug and reconnect with the one who calls us to joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, etc.
Take an evaluation of your life, what you do, what you look at and hear, and sit with God to let the Spirit reveal to you the things that promote the joy of God in your life and the things that remove that joy. Do this with love of neighbor as well. I am not saying you do no need to watch the news at all or look at social media but maybe evaluate how much you do and when you do it. What would it look like to begin your day with an hour of silence and first hearing a word from God before hearing a word from the world? Unplug from the world so that you can first plug fully into God and receive the world with compassion, joy, love, and peace.