Guard the Gate

There’s a couple articles going around about how predators are accessing children through apps and videos on their smartphones and tablets. It is horrifying and sickening.

There’s a lot of evil in this world and sometimes I forget because I’m safe in my little bubble at home.

But this little device that I’m so attached to, that is so useful that I don’t know how I would live without it, that I use as an escape sometimes, get addicted to sometimes, that I simultaneously loathe and can’t live without, is a portal to my soul.

And the enemy is too smart not to use it as a weapon against me.

Social media is a blessing and a curse. Since I stay home all the time and I’m halfway around the world from friends and family, it is the only way I can stay connected and communicate with those I’m far away from.

But even too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.

Especially if it keeps me from the ONE thing:

Hear O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is One. And you are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your being and all your resources. These words which I am ordering you today are to be on your heart, and you are to teach them diligently to your children. You are to talk about them when you are sitting at home, when you are travelling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them on your hand as a sign, put them at the front of a headband around your forehead, and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Even if I’m reading good and uplifting articles, if it means I am neglecting my husband and children, if I am not doing the ONE thing, then I’m allowing my attention to be distracted by temporary and fleeting desires at the expense of the eternal.

But it’s not just good and uplifting articles that this portal opens my soul to. No matter what my intentions are or the intentions of those posting, I am daily exposed to lies, rumors, negativity, judgement, comparisons, advice, shame, guilt, and despair.

And I love research, but I know how results can be skewed, and information, no matter how scholarly, is based on human understanding.

And that’s not even touching on advertisements and promoted posts.

And once again, I’m not saying it’s ALL bad, and I’m not trying to shame anyone or blame anyone.

What I am saying is:

Guard The Gate.

Because mixed in with all the innocuous are small doses of poison, small enough that you can’t even taste it or see it, but it doesn’t take long for it to build up in your system and affect your heart and mind.

And you will be overwhelmed by the evil in our world and will start to believe that God isn’t in control (how could he let these things happen, how could he let this person be in charge?)

And all of the sudden your life will look like less than, your hair won’t be good enough, your face won’t be good enough, your body won’t be good enough, your house won’t be good enough, your kids won’t be good enough, your husband won’t be good enough, your life won’t be good enough.

And it will be easier to escape into distraction, trivial amusements, funny videos, or other peoples’ lives than deal with your own.

And pseudo-truth and friendly advice will cover up the problem but won’t actually fix it and even though your social media account shows a functioning person, you’ll be dying inside.

Because even though social media is teeming with lives, it is NOT real life. Or TRUE LIFE.

And maybe it’s been so long since you’ve had truth and life spoken over you or breathed into you that you don’t even know what that feels like anymore.

Listen, children, to a father’s instruction; pay attention, in order to gain insight; for I am giving you good advice; so don’t abandon my teaching.

For I too was once a child to my father; and my mother, too, thought of me as her special darling. 

He too taught me; he said to me, “Let your heart treasure my words; keep my commands, and live; gain wisdom, gain insight; don’t forget or turn from the words I am saying.

Don’t abandon wisdom; then she will preserve you; love her, and she will protect you. 

The beginning of wisdom is: get wisdom! And along with all your getting, get insight!

Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will bring you honor;

she will give your head a garland of grace, bestow on you a crown of glory.”

Listen, my son, receive what I say, and the years of your life will be many.

I’m directing you on the way of wisdom, guiding you in paths of uprightness;

when you walk, your step won’t be hindered; and if you run, you won’t stumble.

Hold fast to discipline, don’t let it go; guard it, for it is your life.

Don’t follow the path of the wicked or walk on the way of evildoers.

Avoid it, don’t go on it, turn away from it, and pass on.

For they can’t sleep if they haven’t done evil, they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone fall.

For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, shining ever brighter until full daylight.

The way of the wicked is like darkness; they don’t even know what makes them stumble.

My son, pay attention to what I am saying; incline your ear to my words.

Don’t let them out of your sight, keep them deep in your heart;

for they are life to those who find them and health to their whole being.

Above everything else, guard your heart; for it is the source of life’s consequences.

Keep crooked speech out of your mouth, banish deceit from your lips.

Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze on what lies in front of you.

Level the path for your feet, let all your ways be properly prepared;

then deviate neither right nor left; and keep your foot far from evil.

Proverbs 4

Guard the Gate.