I want to talk about another implication from yesterday’s study in Science magazine. Could it be that we crave constant electronic stimuli because we’re afraid of what goes on in our own head and heart? Do we continually strive to bombard our ear drums and retinas with streaming data because being still means we have to deal with the “traffic” that already exists in our head?
Ourselves and/or our pasts caused by ourselves and/or others can create such head noise that it’s simply easier to drown it out with our smart phones, which can stimulate both our eyes and ears at the same time. Hey, the more the merrier, right?
Wrong. Attempting to drown out that head noise doesn’t work. It’s already in your head and forms the basis of your decisions. Remember, what goes into or is already in our heads will come out in our behavior. It’s time to pick up our biblical tools of peace and quiet.
“Be still and know that Jesus is Lord.” Be still. Let Him bring up what head noise He chooses to deal with at the moment. Then choose to trust Him by using your biblical tools to let Him heal your past. Be still. Cease striving to change yourself by allowing the Spirit to transform your character into Christ-like character. Do this and you will know that faith in your God works in the real world in which you live.
The Scriptures teach that a mind stayed on the truths Jesus gives us from His word will be kept in perfect peace. Jesus is the truth that sets us free from all the head noise we’re trying to drown out. We don’t have to be afraid of the quiet, if we know who’s there with us. We don’t have to be afraid of ourselves, if we’re allowing the Spirit to make us more like Jesus.
This past vacation I unplugged from my electronic gear (email on iPhone, books on my iPad) for periods of time to simply sit on my porch watching streams of water run by my cabin (that’s my foot by the way!) and listening to the wind blowing through the tall aspen trees. Yeah, there was some head noise to be dealt with. Yeah, there was past stuff that had to get cleaned up. Yet when I used my secure child of God biblical tool – I’m loved, accepted and reconciled with my God – peace came over my mind. True peace and quiet does indeed do the mind and body good.
“S”et Free Nowww