How Do I Choose Between Two Good Things?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | We close out the week with an email
00:00:06.600 | from an anonymous listener, a young man,
00:00:08.400 | who writes in to ask this, Pastor John.
00:00:10.960 | I would consider myself addicted to the internet,
00:00:13.840 | not to internet pornography, not to video games.
00:00:16.960 | I'm addicted to email and Twitter and blogs,
00:00:19.600 | and much of what I'm addicted to
00:00:21.060 | is solid gospel-centered content and articles
00:00:23.600 | that are genuinely interesting and thoughtful and edifying.
00:00:26.540 | I think I may be overdoing it
00:00:27.760 | because my attention seems to be taken off the people
00:00:30.260 | around me and making a detrimental impact
00:00:32.920 | on my relationships.
00:00:34.660 | Is this a problem?
00:00:36.380 | If so, how would you correct me?
00:00:38.380 | And what spiritual forces are at play in my heart?
00:00:41.060 | And do you have any strategies to help me with this?
00:00:44.320 | My first thought when I hear that question
00:00:46.620 | is that I want to encourage us, I think,
00:00:50.500 | to almost suspend or at least minimize
00:00:54.180 | our use of the word addiction.
00:00:56.180 | I don't mean there's no such thing,
00:01:00.380 | but I think it would be helpful
00:01:02.620 | if we began to use some other more explicit sentences
00:01:07.620 | or words, here's what I mean.
00:01:10.160 | If I were this person, I would say, say this,
00:01:14.680 | I read Twitter, Facebook, blogs, news, or whatever
00:01:19.680 | to sinful excess.
00:01:23.580 | Whatever the activity is, I should say,
00:01:25.960 | I'm involved in this to sinful excess.
00:01:29.320 | Secondly, let's say I am drawn to do this
00:01:34.280 | with an intensity of desire that is out of proportion,
00:01:39.280 | perhaps sinfully out of proportion
00:01:42.480 | to the value of what I'm reading
00:01:44.720 | and the value of other things I may not be doing.
00:01:48.120 | The desire is stronger than it ought to be
00:01:50.260 | for something, say, as inconsequential
00:01:52.600 | as Twitter and my desire for other things
00:01:55.320 | that may be more consequential is smaller.
00:01:57.880 | So I have a sinful disproportion of desire.
00:02:02.880 | And the third thing I would want him to say or her,
00:02:06.460 | I should say, we should say,
00:02:09.320 | I am regularly going against my best judgment.
00:02:14.100 | And this is sinful in giving into an intensity of desire
00:02:19.100 | against my best judgment.
00:02:21.660 | So talking about our compulsions in this way,
00:02:25.260 | it seems to me, has the advantage
00:02:27.260 | of making some things clearer
00:02:30.780 | and being much more hopeful in our ability
00:02:34.940 | to address them in biblical ways.
00:02:37.840 | It names the problem of sinful excess.
00:02:42.180 | It names the problem of disproportion of desire.
00:02:46.580 | It names the problem of contradicting
00:02:49.140 | our own best judgment.
00:02:50.540 | It doesn't use this almost therapeutic
00:02:53.180 | or medical word of addiction
00:02:54.900 | that kind of in a vague way covers all these specific sins.
00:02:59.900 | So it's hard to deal with sin
00:03:02.400 | if it's cloaked with vague language.
00:03:05.220 | So I think we need to get more specific.
00:03:07.500 | So let's step back now with that little bit of introduction
00:03:11.900 | and talk about the issue of compulsions
00:03:15.060 | driving us to Twitter and blogs,
00:03:17.300 | even theologically good things.
00:03:20.420 | And this could be any other good thing
00:03:23.260 | we do compulsively as well.
00:03:24.600 | So this is not the question of addiction
00:03:28.440 | or compulsion to pornography or gambling.
00:03:30.980 | This is a good thing that's being talked about here.
00:03:34.500 | So the question here is not, is it wrong to do,
00:03:38.040 | but is it wrong to do it this much?
00:03:40.500 | Is it wrong to desire it with this level of intensity
00:03:44.140 | in proportion to other things?
00:03:45.580 | And is it such that I'm ruining my best judgment by caving?
00:03:50.580 | And why would that be?
00:03:53.100 | Why am I not acting in accordance with my best judgment?
00:03:57.460 | So in other words, a God-pleasing life of faith
00:04:01.940 | and love and holiness is a life,
00:04:04.200 | not just avoiding bad things and doing good things,
00:04:06.940 | it's a life of doing good things with good motives
00:04:11.340 | in proper proportion to other good things.
00:04:14.180 | That's what he's really wrestling with.
00:04:17.460 | So here's my strategy.
00:04:19.060 | I'll just close with these, I think, three or four ideas.
00:04:22.980 | Number one, be saturated with the scriptures
00:04:28.460 | so that God's revealed proportionality becomes instinctual.
00:04:33.460 | It's very difficult to come up with lists or timeframes
00:04:39.340 | about how many blogs to read
00:04:41.040 | or how much time to spend on Twitter.
00:04:43.640 | I mean, you just can't do it.
00:04:45.340 | It has to become instinctual.
00:04:47.500 | The sense of holiness and proportion in the Christian life
00:04:50.740 | must become instinctual.
00:04:52.080 | I don't know any other way for that to happen,
00:04:54.020 | but to be totally immersed in God's proportionality
00:04:58.260 | as it's revealed in his word
00:05:00.260 | by reading the sweep of scripture over and over again.
00:05:02.700 | Number two, let's pray that God would make us discerning
00:05:07.700 | and would overcome blind spots,
00:05:10.060 | because a lot of us just don't have even a clue
00:05:13.120 | that our lives are out of proportion in this regard.
00:05:15.660 | And number three, by God's grace,
00:05:19.540 | we should seek to bring the intensity of our desires
00:05:23.560 | into balance with the diversity of the good things
00:05:27.300 | God gives us to do.
00:05:28.780 | So relationships at home and work and church,
00:05:31.820 | as well as all these other good things
00:05:34.580 | of reading that we're doing.
00:05:36.200 | So bring our desires into balance
00:05:41.140 | according to the diversity of good things
00:05:43.040 | God has put in front of us.
00:05:44.180 | And lastly, we should be in a church
00:05:48.820 | with solid biblical preaching and a network of people
00:05:53.820 | who will help us see when our lives are out of proportion
00:05:58.800 | and help us change.
00:06:01.300 | - Amen, that is golden life wisdom for balance
00:06:04.420 | and for deciding between any two good things.
00:06:06.980 | Thank you, Pastor John.
00:06:08.260 | Well, the weekend is upon us again,
00:06:09.980 | and for everything you need to know about this podcast
00:06:12.260 | and to send John Piper a question,
00:06:14.500 | a very carefully crafted, concise, and specific question,
00:06:18.680 | go to desiringgod.org/askpastorjohn.
00:06:22.920 | Also, as many of you know, the new features
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00:06:34.780 | for getting this feature added recently.
00:06:37.300 | And of course, thank you to the many financial donors
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00:06:46.300 | Well, tomorrow is Saturday.
00:06:48.140 | Should it be a day of work or should it be a day of rest?
00:06:51.780 | The creation pattern set for us is six days of work
00:06:54.660 | and one day of rest, but our economy is largely built
00:06:58.180 | on a rhythm of five days of work and two days of non-work.
00:07:01.780 | So which pattern is right?
00:07:04.260 | I'll ask John Piper that question on Monday.
00:07:07.260 | I'm your host, Tony Ranke.
00:07:08.260 | Have a great weekend.
00:07:09.500 | (upbeat music)
00:07:12.080 | (upbeat music)
00:07:14.660 | [BLANK_AUDIO]