Redeeming our lifestyle: Curating our media
What media have you consumed in the last 48 hours?
It could include: facebook, twitter, tiktok, instagram, TV, netflix, youtube, websites, radio and many many more.
What relevance do you think our media consumption have to do with following Christ?
Media consumption is not all bad, but it does effect your life with God and our love for neighbour. When we engage with media we are engaging with a story or narrative.
To some extent we can become part of it; we are what we eat!
What reasons do you have for your media consumption?
Some might be: for information, entertainment, boredom, communicating, learning, the news, ideas, relaxing.
We were created to live in a story. The most dynamic, exciting and real story there is! Whether we are aware of it or not, we live in this story.
The story of God becoming flesh, revealing who God truly is, dying for the sins of the world, rising from the dead and returning to heaven, pouring out Holy Spirit so that humanity might be joined to God forever as sons and daughters. We live in this story of God reconciling the world to himself.
Genesis 1:1-3 (Message translation)
First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.
God spoke: “Light!”
And light appeared.
God saw that light was good
and separated light from dark.
Genesis 1:27 (Message translation)
God created human beings;
he created them godlike,
Reflecting God’s nature.
He created them male and female.
God blessed them:
“Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”
Humans are made to be creative, to live with our imagination turned on and redeemed, but the busy-ness of life and our media consumption can unintentionally obstruct God’s creativity in our lives.
We can be discipled by what we watch. We are being spiritually formed by what others have created for us by various media. This can be for good or ill. It can inspire greater creativity or squash our ability to dream.
Sometimes its important to limit our media consumption to enable us to quiet ourselves enough to daydream with God. In these times we can hear the “still small voice” . God is remarkably clear at times, but it can require quiet - something our culture is not designed to facilitate.
When did you last daydream?
There are prophetic words and promises over us as a community and as individuals that aren’t a trodden path. They require creativity and partnership with God.
They won’t come to fruition unless we step into this place of God’s story being our narrative and making space for that to happen.
Part of making space means limiting our media consumption.
We have a choice to walk out the prophetic words in our life. These are not unconditional promises. We have freedom to make space for the creativity required to live out our calling.
What do you need to do to create space for renewed creativity? Who needs to support you in this commitment?
Creating a limit on media consumption for a week might seem a bit over the top, but if it can benefit your life with God, that inherent creativity then why not try it out?
Here are some ideas to release the creativity to incarnate the prophetic words on your life:
Audit your media consumption.
Start a list of things to watch rather than just browse or scroll. Be intentional.
Use apps to monitor and share with someone what you’re watching
Take time to daydream, go for a walk without an agenda.
Getting in “flow state” where we feel in the zone like music or drawing or exercise where can’t easily be distracted.
We’re designed to be creative, so lets curate our media intentionally to fulfill our identity and purpose to fill the earth with God’s Kingdom which has all the solutions the world needs.
Ruth Taylor
