I was reading a John MacArthur article a few weeks ago
and the phrase “planned neglect” came up.
It interested me and it got me thinking.
Obviously there are things you can neglect in your life, and things you
must not and cannot or the social services department would be on your
doorstep! For instance you don’t neglect
to feed your children or make sure they have clean clothes to wear and you don’t
really want to neglect your personal hygiene!
However there are some things we can make a conscious
effort to neglect in our lives – negative things which sap our joy and take our
eyes off what is truly important.
Recently I took a conscious decision to neglect Facebook. I was getting upset, offended and angered by
what I was seeing on a daily basis. From Christians. Or people who would profess to be Christians at
least. I could choose to remain, having my
senses assaulted (and sometimes deliberately going looking for things to shock
me because I knew I’d find them) or I could choose to leave and take a
breather, allowing my mind to recover and fix itself on the things Philippians
4v8 tells me to. It seems to me that
this verse is relevant in so many areas of my life.
So I left. For
now, anyway. I am neglecting it. Occasionally I get itchy fingers to seek it
out and see what’s going on, but for the most part, I’m content to be without
it. Instead I am reading my bible, or Christian
literature, and I’m not picking up my phone a thousand times a day to see what
nonsense is in my newsfeed and shake my head over it. That has to be a good thing. And the best part is you can still have friendships
without Facebook. I don’t need to know
the nitty gritty of someone’s life. I
don’t need it played out before my very eyes.
I need to have solid, true, godly interaction that is good for me. And hope that I can be that influence for
someone else in return.
There are other things in our lives that we need to
neglect, ignore and not give any air-time to.
The desire in our human nature to gossip, run other people down, indulge
in self-pity, give in to anger, show our impatience. I don’t want to give these
things a foot hold, because they will pull me into sinking sand and drown me if
I let them.
Hebrews 12v2 is a better way to live. A better focus to have. I need to fix my eyes on Jesus, the Author
and Perfecter of my faith. When I am
looking at Him, without wavering, all of these other things will fade and
become dim. I will become more like Him
as a result, which in turn will help me in putting to death more of my sinful
nature.
“Turn your eyes up on Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth
Will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace”
This world has so many glittering lights to entice us
into sin. When we neglect the things
this world has to offer us and look to Christ, we find all we need in Him.
