Giving up.

So the other day I’m having a conversation with a really good friend saying how much I miss reading, I miss reading books that make you think all day, make you wish you could just get home to read another chapter. I spent most of the conversation wishing I had more time to read, more time to just be, more time to think. I wish I was able to just spend time in God’s word, not reading it just for quiet times in the morning, but getting deeper in it because I hunger and thirst for it.

As I walked away, I pondered; why I didn’t have as much time, why I didn’t have the same inclination to read as I always had done. I used to love nothing more than getting home and reading – I would read all evening, and well into the night.

And that’s when it hit me, I didn’t sit down anymore to read, I’d spend the time looking at my phone or tablet checking Facebook and Twitter. And it’s not like I was really taking in that much information or finding it that interesting – I just do it out of habit. It’s not a bad habit particularly, but it’s a habit that steals my time.

It steals my time from God.

It steals my time from Life.

It steals my time from me.

I’m not generally one for giving up things for Lent, but this year it’s different. I have decided this year for Lent I will be giving up Social Media. It’s not going to be easy, and there are going to be times where I fail, or come close to failing, but if I can claim back even a fraction of the time Social Media takes up, well then it will have been worth it.

A few years ago I was away on a youth weekend away and I was having a conversation with some girls about how they don’t have time to read the Bible. When I challenged them about what was taking up their time they quoted things like coursework, parents, boyfriends. So I posed them a question – “How much time do you spend on Facebook?” According to them, they reckoned about 18 hours a week…. So my answer was “I think we’ve discovered what’s stealing your focus”!

And after having given the advice back then, my own advice has found its way back to me.

In Hebrews 12 it says about throwing off everything that hinders, everything that steals our focus, everything that steals our time from the race that God has set before us.

So, for the next 40 days I’m ‘throwing off’ Social Media.

I’m giving up.

I’m giving in.

My challenge to you is what is it that you need to throw off to be unhindered in your hunger for God?

What’s stealing your focus from the one who made you…… and what will you do about it?

See you in 40 days.