Comment Magazine is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. They work in collaboration with a podcast called “Conversing with Mark Labberton” and Anne Snyder, editor of Comment, was on the podcast going over their manifesto for humanity. It is worth a listen. HERE

A recent article in Comment (probably still behind a paywall) focused on our distractions that come from being hooked on the internet. “Internet Overexposure Syndrome” is the name of the piece by Katherine Dee.

It is a great article, but the conclusion is worth noting:

The more time we spend on the internet, the more our connection to our physical selves grows tenuous. This disconnection magnifies our need for visceral experiences. Even destructive ones like self-harm become desperate attempts to feel present in our bodies again. The proliferations of body-focused content across the internet isn’t just algorithmic exploitation, though it’s that too; it reflects our yearning for the corporeal experiences we’ve lost. In a world anchored within a screen, our physical form become both a refuge from and a tether to reality.

What in the world does this have to do with the affections of Christ? In my walk with the Lord, walking with him has always had a sense of reality. When I am in prayer many times… I feel that prayer.

The internet has a developed ADHD in my life and I am too hooked on a screen to sit quietly without a screen nearby and simply meditate on the goodness of God.

The gospel didn’t come to us by email. Or a meme. Or a gif.

Christ came down among us. In the flesh. In our experiences.

And I rob myself of the reality of Christ… the affections of Christ when I have to have a screen nearby, even if it’s under the pretense of “I may need to study a word using my digital Bible.”

When I was just getting into ministry I remember a teaching session from a college professor at a Bible camp. He talked about his desire for intimacy with Christ and said if students ever saw him walking across campus with a hand on his hip, it meant he was sensing Jesus nearby … and he was as close as his elbow. He sensed the presence of Christ.

I cannot allow the foolishness of my screen addiction to rob me of the reality of the presence of God. I know he is close. I have walked that way before. It is work, but I must walk that way again.