“Those who work their lands will have abundant food, but those who chase fantasies have no sense.” – Proverbs 12:11
I believe my Christian walk would be much easier if my world wasn’t so comfortable. I imagine in the past, people had to work really hard to indulge in their hard labour. You wanted to eat a lot of food, well you had to garden your food and wait for months for it to be ready for harvest or you had to physically hunt for your own food.
All it takes me is a couple of clicks on the DoorDash app and the food is on my doorsteps in less than an hour. My mind also doesn’t have to be mentally stimulated to be entertained, I don’t have to read a book or be creative to be entertained, I can just watch my favourite movie or tv show.
My point is that I don’t have to put any work to enjoy something. I have my phone to keep me occupied, if I wanted to I could spent my whole day on TikTok and still not get bored. It’s just so comfortable and easy to be lazy, my laziness is rewarded in this modern world. Laziness used to lead to boredom and boredom would make us so uncomfortable that we just had to make ourselves occupied or busy.
Proverbs 12:11 does mention something interesting, it says those who chase fantasies have no sense… It seems harsh only because I know it pertains to me. I chase fantasies, as much as I love being entertained by my favourite shows or favourite influencers, it’s not real. None of the things I watch are real to me. I have allowed myself to live vicariously through these avenues not realizing it’s what has made stagnant and has kept from progressing. If I knew the amount of hours I have wasted on these fantasies, it would be a horrifying realization. It’s not just entertainment either, I have wasted so much of my thoughts daydreaming about my life. Instead of actually putting in the work, daydreaming gave the dopamine of feeling like I accomplished something without doing anything. It’s chasing fantasies.…
It’s a tragedy really, that this comfortable modern world has not only made me a lazy person in general but also a lazy Christian. My Bible has barely been opened in these years, because I wasted so much time chasing fantasies. I have conditioned myself to live by the flesh instead of the Spirit. Like the Bible says the Flesh and the Spirit are at war with each other (Galatians 5:17). At times when I do pick up my Bible, I can feel that impatience within myself, just hoping to quickly read the Bible and return to scrolling on my phone. It’s not surprisingly that the Bible warns us that the desire of other things can Choke the Word of God.
“ Others are like the seeds sown among the thorns. They hear the word, but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.” – Mark 4:18-19
It’s interesting that in the Bible the percussion that the disciples and early Christians faced was literal death and imprisonment, but their faith was just so strong. Relative to that our struggles it seems so minute, because all I need to do is to resist my phone and resists some junk food. In theory it should be easy right? However, I think that is the real paradox. In many ways I believe that the Christian walk is harder in a comfortable world than a hostile world. In a hostile world where death is so near and imminent, your reliance of God is much greater. However, in a comfortable world, resisting the flesh is much more difficult and often times God just becomes an after thought in our “busy” lives of chasing fantasies.
I wish I had all the solutions but I am still struggling to navigate this world full of pleasures and comforts. However, I do still have hope, the fact that God let me live another day means He is not yet done with me and neither is He done with you. His compassions are new everyday and our struggles with the flesh, actually shows us that our reliance on God is still very much needed.
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.” – Lamentations 3:22-23
Confused Christian 