It’s easy for me to imagine not bowing to the Antichrist. It’s easy for me to picture myself standing up against the mark of the beast no matter the cost. But when I look at my life, I wonder if I value convenience more than I value righteousness.
Within the last two years, my wife and I subscribed to Disney+. And even though Disney has openly claimed to push LGBT content in their shows, I’ve remained a subscriber to the service. Even though they oppose commonsense laws about not letting teachers indoctrinate elementary-age kids with sexual ideology, I’ve remained a subscriber. And here’s the reason: I want to watch all of the Marvel superhero movies before I cancel my subscription.
Too often, I value convenience over doing the right thing. Another good example is how a few years ago I realized Facebook and Instagram were increasing my anxiety, shortening my attention span and making me feel relationally shallow. At the time, I told my wife that I was starting to feel “socially schizophrenic.” I coined the phrase and described it as having lots of knowledge but very little relationship.
I knew random details about friends from eighth grade, but I wasn’t getting to know the people around me. I learned lots of random tidbits about science and history, but I hadn’t done a deep study on one book. I learned how to fix things from YouTube, but I was never taught anything by a more experienced peer or mentor. In short, I was floating through the world with a lot of knowledge with no relationship attached to it.
But here’s the kicker. I kept living like that for at least a year. I wanted all of that quick knowledge because it was convenient. Like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, I wanted unlimited knowledge with no meaningful relationship.
After the Lord confronted me for six months with His Word, His whisper, signs and confirmations, I finally gave up Facebook and Instagram, but I held on to my love for convenience.
When I watched this Lion of Judah video, I realized why. In the video, the deep voice with an English accent goes through John 3:18-21. When he gets to verse 19, he reads, “The light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil” (NKJV). That verse hit me hard.
In some areas of my life, I’m prone to love darkness. Sometimes I love convenience more than I love doing the right thing, and if I’m honest with myself, I can see that sometimes I love darkness more than I love righteousness.
I love the darkness because it’s more convenient. It’s more convenient to stay hidden instead of seeking out relationship. It’s more convenient to stick to building a following for myself on social media rather than building genuine relationships with my neighbors. And it’s more convenient to stay subscribed to Disney+ than to not have access to my favorite movies.
As I’m writing this, I realize I need to take my eyes off the apocalyptic future and imagined epic moments of standing for truth. Instead, I need to ask Jesus to give me a love for His light now.
If I love His light and seek to serve Him in small ways, like giving up social media or Disney+ now, He’ll equip me to stand against a dictator or refuse to take the mark, no matter how inconvenient or painful it is.
Watch this video from Lion of Judah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSD2vcU8eeI. {eoa}
Rob Vischer is a freelance writer for Charisma Media.
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