Surrounded by Screens

Hook

I have a lot of screens in my life.

I have my cell phone.

I have a tablet.

I have a laptop.

I have two desktops; one at home that has an ultrawide monitor, and one in my church office that has a dual screen, two monitors.

In our apartment, we have two tv’s.

I have a lot of screens.

How many screens do you have?

What consoles do you have?

My first console was a Nintendo 64 that I shared with my brother.

I used to play DK, Mario, Mario Kart, 007, and tons of other stuff.

My first personal console was a PS2.

But there’s more screens in our life, right?

Movie theaters, Netflix, D+, Prime Video.

There’s so many screens.

There's screens all around us. Even you get in your car, there's probably a screen there now as well. They're everywhere.

Can anyone guess the amount of time the average teenager spends on their phone each day?

7 hours and 22 minutes a day.

For some of you, maybe it’s closer to 3 hours a day. Mine says 3 hours today.

For some of you, maybe it’s closer to 10.

The Bible never specifically mentions iPhone. The Bible never talks about Android or 4k TVs. It doesn't mention Nintendo anywhere, but there are tons of principles to help you manage and navigate the screens in your life.

And I'm excited that you're taking a few minutes today to process what that means and maybe apply some of these principles to your digital world. Few thoughts that I want you to write down and some scriptural principles that I want to look at.

Here's the first one: Screens aren't all bad, but they can be a source of temptation.

What I do want you to realize is that like most anything, there's an awful lot of good, and there's an awful lot of awful that's in your digital device as well.

It is a portal to another world. And there are inhabitants of that world that are dangerous and unsavory characters you should have nothing to do with and content that you should never look at. And it is a source of incredible temptation. Here's what the scripture says about this exact thing. It says

1 Thessalonians 5:19–22 CSB

19 Don’t stifle the Spirit. 20 Don’t despise prophecies, 21 but test all things. Hold on to what is good. 22 Stay away from every kind of evil.

Hold on to what is good. Stay away from evil. Your phone, all these interconnected devices, there's a lot of bad. Think they're also incredibly good and helpful and powerful and a necessary part of our life as well. Just be aware of the temptations that you will face.

Second thing I want you to write down is this use discernment. I realize that's a big word. So hang with me for a second. Use discernment with what you put on the screen. And what I mean is, you have some choices about what you're going to be putting on your screen and what you click on or what your thumb presses.

And I want to challenge you to use discernment. Maybe an easier word to understand is the word wisdom, be wise with the choices that you make.

Use discernment, be wise, let God's spirit guide you as well. Let me show you this verse from Ephesians chapter five.

Ephesians 5:6–10 CSB

6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things. 7 Therefore, do not become their partners. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light— 9 for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth— 10 testing what is pleasing to the Lord.

Don't be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins. So some people are going to justify what they look at, what they watch, even though it's terrible.

live as people of light. Students that's what I want you to get. In fact, as an adult, I'm on this journey with you. I want to live as a follower of Jesus, and I know not everybody in the room or watching this video is a follower of Jesus.

But if you are, if you've said, I believe. Then as followers of the light, we should look different than other people that are around us. This includes, what you look at it on your phone, what you look at on the website and all of the screens that are in our lives. Use discernment and be wise.

A simple phrase that I heard a long time ago when I was in programming class, computer programming class.

G I G O garbage in garbage out. And what that means is the stuff that you consume and the stuff that influences you, the stuff that you watch matters, and it changes who you are. And it's going to come out in the end.

Don't fill your life, your mind, your heart, your eyes with garbage. Cause it changes who you are, and it is not the light that God has called us to as His. Last point and your notes, write this down to commit to accountability and balance in your screen time. Here's the deal. You it's got to start with you.

You have a choice. Are you going to have reasonable limits? Who here has parental limits on any device.

Another way to mentally prepare yourseelf for limits? Connect with other people. The group around you, your Tribe, your peers. Surround yourself with the people you want to be most like.

Hebrews 10:24–25 CSB

24 And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

The verse is specifically talking about the context is about gathering together as worshipers. It's talking about the community, one another.

We're talking about screens for three more weeks, and this is just the beginning, just to get you started, get you thinking about, and have you maybe look at how much time you're spending on your devices, but there's an important principle that is our one last thought for the week. And it's this:

No screen should control you, but instead be controlled by God's Spirit.

So the digital device is always calling. It's your alarm clock. And it's the first thing that you scroll through. Maybe while you brush your teeth, you're also looking at your phone and it's tracking you and the whole bit. But what I want you to know is that oftentimes our screens control us and as followers of Jesus, let's be controlled and filled with God's spirit.