“It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here”
Edward Abbey
There is so much wrong in the world, so much suffering, and so much evil. We fight what we can, but the forces we fight against are im mense, many times they are within us. Sometimes we focus so much on the fight that we forget to enjoy the world that God gave us, we for got to love the trees, we forget that the world is good. The Bible starts with the great acknowledgment that ‘God saw that it was good,’ repeat ed for each step of creation and ending with the ‘God saw that it was very good’ at the end (Genesis 1). Our path is both to struggle against evil, and to rejoice in the world as the Psalmist says, “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).
In the digital world the effort needed to remember to love, to rejoice, and to enjoy is ever increasing. We live in an age of distractions. Some thing is calling for our attention every minute. Notice how we are tempted to look at our media feeds during downtime or when we are waiting. But the deep joy and peace of faith is not found in constant busyness or the constant bombardment of random stories, posts, and pictures. The temptation to spend time with social media and news feeds is sometimes overwhelming. Yet the pleasure we get from them is very superficial, and filling our lives with superficial pleasures may prevent us from seeking deeper ones.
We are called to a path that is narrow, as this most difficult passage from Matthew 7:13-14 attests: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many entered through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road
that leads to life, and only a few find it.” The passage should give us all some pause. The full meaning of the passage is beyond us, but at a minimum we can understand that the path must be somehow opposed to pleasures and temptations of the general culture around us. We must say no to something to be on the narrow path and that something is likely the superficial pleasures, distractions, and enticements that are all around us. But saying no to the temptations of our culture must also mean that we say yes to the call to rejoice in God’s world and to seek God’s peace. And we must do that while we fight against the evils of our time.
Edward Abbey
There is so much wrong in the world, so much suffering, and so much evil. We fight what we can, but the forces we fight against are im mense, many times they are within us. Sometimes we focus so much on the fight that we forget to enjoy the world that God gave us, we for got to love the trees, we forget that the world is good. The Bible starts with the great acknowledgment that ‘God saw that it was good,’ repeat ed for each step of creation and ending with the ‘God saw that it was very good’ at the end (Genesis 1). Our path is both to struggle against evil, and to rejoice in the world as the Psalmist says, “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).
In the digital world the effort needed to remember to love, to rejoice, and to enjoy is ever increasing. We live in an age of distractions. Some thing is calling for our attention every minute. Notice how we are tempted to look at our media feeds during downtime or when we are waiting. But the deep joy and peace of faith is not found in constant busyness or the constant bombardment of random stories, posts, and pictures. The temptation to spend time with social media and news feeds is sometimes overwhelming. Yet the pleasure we get from them is very superficial, and filling our lives with superficial pleasures may prevent us from seeking deeper ones.
We are called to a path that is narrow, as this most difficult passage from Matthew 7:13-14 attests: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many entered through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road
that leads to life, and only a few find it.” The passage should give us all some pause. The full meaning of the passage is beyond us, but at a minimum we can understand that the path must be somehow opposed to pleasures and temptations of the general culture around us. We must say no to something to be on the narrow path and that something is likely the superficial pleasures, distractions, and enticements that are all around us. But saying no to the temptations of our culture must also mean that we say yes to the call to rejoice in God’s world and to seek God’s peace. And we must do that while we fight against the evils of our time.
