So today, my friend mentioned to me that he has disabled Facebook on his phone and deleted his account. He remarked that it has become an idol in his life and he doesn't want anything to do with it.
This isn't the first time he has done this. He has made decisions like this before, previously getting rid of a smart phone altogether or deleting accounts. As he mentioned it this time, I thought of self-control. It is spoken of in the Bible. It is part of the fruit of the Spirit. And in 2 Timothy 1:7 it says, "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." Self-control is also translated sound mind.
Here's my point. I'm wondering at times how much we give God an opportunity to work in our life. Does my friend really need to disable and delete his Facebook account or does he rather need to learn to submit and surrender to God and say "Yes" to Him and "No" to those things that entangle him? I mean, would that not be allowing the Spirit of God to do a work in his life and give him (the Holy) spirit working of self-control in his life. By deleting Facebook, where does self-control now have a chance to succeed in his life?
It is like these internet screening services or programs program that get installed on phones or for browsing. Doesn't this take the work of God and His power out of our life? How is self-control going to be manifested if we force remove our ability to sin?
I don't know, sometimes I wonder if we are pushing the Holy Spirit out of his role in our life by setting up all of these safeguards so we really don't have to trust God. I mean, when was the last time you had to go without a meal because you couldn't afford it. So what sort of meaning really is "Give us this day our daily bread."
Circle people around in a room and ask for prayer requests. #1 item that comes up are medical needs in America. Why? Because we've taken care of everything else in our lives. We've taken over control of everything else. But health continues to attack us despite our best efforts to have good jobs, nice homes, safe cars. And so for those reasons it is "God, help!" And the crazy thing is I don't even see these types of prayers often in the Bible. There are not many prayers in the Bible for better health, but instead the prayer is to accept what you have been given. It just feels like we are no different from those folks following Jesus around, just wanting to see him do a miracle when he just wants to share His eternal truth to us about having eternal life and living with him. But we are so fixated instead with what is in front of us.
I just wonder. What are we doing? Are we taking God out? Are we giving the Holy Spirit a chance to work in us? I mean, wouldn't it be a greater testimony to say what we did is decided to trust God and allow His Spirit to work. "I got out of the way and God gave me the Self-control He promised to give me." That sounds better than I removed something from my phone or I added something that prevents me from going to a site.
