A few weeks ago I wrote about Infobesity which dealt with the fact that we are constantly inundated, and overwhelmed by so much information coming our way and how it’s affecting us in unhealthy ways as Christians and Christian leaders.
Today I want to address this onslaught not from social media but from within the Christian Churches we attend and know about.
Perhaps you have had someone say one or more of the following to you:
- You’ve just got to listen to the latest sermon by______
- Oh, you’ve just got to get this book by ________ it’s amazing and changed my life
- Have you heard the latest podcast with _________?
- Have you seen the line-up of speakers for this conference? You don’t wanna miss this one!
I’m hearing these sort of things all the time from well-meaning friends who don’t want me to miss out on anything. But, honestly, it’s becoming a bit too much.
Some Christian leaders I know spend inordinate amounts of time going from one sermon to another by their favorite preachers. From podcast to podcast or constantly on the search for the latest and greatest book, seminar or conference people are saying they must absolutely not miss.
I’ve been a Christian for 64 years. The other day I was thinking that I have probably heard between 3,000 and 4.000 sermons during all those years—that’s a conservative estimate. If I heard only one sermon a week during those 64 years it would be 52 X 64 which is 3,328. But it’s probably a lot more than that and here’s why.
When I became a Christian and got involved in a local church. Here’s what I encouraged to do:
1. Attend Sunday school where I would hear some Bible teaching
2. Attend one of the morning worship services either before or after Sunday School where I would hear a great sermon
3. Attend the Sunday night service-one more sermon
4. Attend the Wednesday night prayer meeting during which there was yet another presentation of Bible truth
5. Attend the Saturday men’s breakfast and you guessed it—another Bible lesson to think about!
That’s five sets of teaching I was being encouraged to avail myself of each week. Talk about infobesity!
And all this long before there was the internet with sermons galore to watch and dozen’s if not hundreds of podcasts by well-known Christian leaders and pastors. Then, add to that, all the online seminars and conferences I could attend. I get tired just thinking about it.
I have been to conferences (Friday-Sunday) where I’ve been exposed to 5 sets of teaching with very little time to think and discuss what I was receiving. It was the proverbial information dump.
Somehow we’ve bought into the lie that the more input and information we can get the more mature we will be. Let me tell you that it just ain’t so! The more has got to be better mindset is simply not true.
God does not primarily want to inform us, but to transform us. This requires setting aside time to process and give prayerful thought to what we receive, as well as carving out dedicated time to discuss with a few others what we are hearing/seeing so we can make appropriate application.
For sure there is much good in all of this information, but enough’s enough already.
I think we need to cut back and focus on a very few sources of intake and think more deeply about what we get, rather than just jumping from one great opportunity to the next.
What do you think? Agree? Disagree?
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