Battle for the Soul

Encouragement to Persevere when the 'Norm' Threatens Spiritual Formation

Frodo: I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened.

Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.

Everywhere I go I see people entranced by a screen. Technology has utterly infiltrated every aspect of our lives; and we are all the more restless and unhappy because of it. I’ve always been sort of a rebel, so when I realized my own ‘entanglement,’ I actively sought ways to be ‘different’ from the crowd—using a regular alarm clock, bringing a physical book to appointments, good ol’ fashioned people watching. Still, it is a daily struggle to resist getting lost in the ‘interwebs.’ The desire to be ‘seen’ and praised by man through ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ often overpowers my meager attempts at resistance. It’s startling, quite frankly, how quickly I think to reach for my phone in times of stress or boredom as a way to escape discomfort.

When I see the grip technology has on my children and how insidiously algorithms work to imprison their minds, I often recall Frodo’s wish from The Fellowship of the Ring. I’ve read the statistics that tell us one third of American high school students experience “pervasive sadness” (sad or hopeless feelings “almost every day for two or more weeks in a row”) often seeing life as meaningless.¹ The same percentage of children ages 6-17 today have been diagnosed with anxiety and depression. The Surgeon General reports the top culprits to be social media (“comparison culture”) and academic burn out (pressure to perform).

“I wish the Internet was never created,” I tell Rich and then we commiserate together by sharing worn stories of simpler times—childhoods spent climbing trees and roller-skating and playing ‘Release’ until the streetlights came on as a way to remember life before smart phones and social media and the disconnected ‘connectedness’ of today.

Do you recall that heartbreaking (yet powerful) scene in The Return of the King when Sam reminds Frodo of the Shire? Dear Frodo was so nearly in the Ring’s power by then and couldn’t recall its comforts:

“Do you remember the Shire, Mr. Frodo? It’ll be spring soon, and the orchards will be in blossom. And the birds will be nesting in the hazel thicket. And they’ll be sowing the summer barley in the lower fields… and eating the first of the strawberries with cream. Do you remember the taste of strawberries?”

Do you remember the Shire? How it’s tucked safely away in a little pocket of Middle Earth, where life is simple and honest and good? Exhausted from war and relentless assault, weighed down by the burden of the Errand, the Shire felt like an impossible dream.

The simpler times I long for feel much like the Shire of a bygone era never again to be reclaimed. The war on Good is unyielding and disheartening. The enemy works tirelessly and uses any means necessary to keep us distracted and feeling defeated. It can feel tempting to just give in and ‘go with the flow.’ The current of evil is strong, and to fight against it is wearisome.

I don’t compare pocket-sized computers or social media with Sauron because I think they share proportionate evil, (though I could argue they are analogous—just pieces of a larger whole), but to say that challenging times have dropped into our laps which we neither dreamt of nor asked for.

The rapid advancement of technology has left us middle-aged Gen X parents a bit breathless. While it has its merits, the digital age doesn’t make room for restorative simplicity, and ‘plugged in’ children are paying for it. Very often these days, I find myself wishing it would all just ‘go away.’ It’s hard enough to parent, never mind parent the heart enraptured by the siren call of the world in their pockets.

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A Battle for the Soul

Thumb through the stories of Scripture and you will find a plethora of people who could have also said, ‘I wish this had never come to me.’

Our war may look different from theirs, but at its core, I see a war waged against our souls. A fight which points us toward the grand scale spiritual battle that has raged across the sphere ‘long before time had a name’ (as my clever son puts it—quoting a YouTube video no less). If he can’t hurt God, he’ll find a way to hurt God’s people by hindering spiritual formation—their growth in godly character and their relationship with Him.²

While studying Daniel with Community Bible Study several years ago, our lesson asked us something along the lines of: “What would it require for you to abstain from the world’s ways the way Daniel and his three friends did in Babylon?”

I wrote: ‘I would need to live in a cave.’

Here was a girl who saw the example these Biblical heroes set and thought ‘Could never be done. I’m not that brave (or disciplined).’

Daniel and his three friends are excellent examples of people who lived ‘in the world’ but did not conform to that world. We read Daniel and see their faithful courage to swim against the current of Babylon and might be tempted to think it was easy for them because they were extraordinary people—nowhere near the likes of you and me. One of the more challenging parts of reading Scripture (in my experience) is to remember the people it describes were real people living ordinary lives.
Lives with real hurts, real fears, and real temptations.

No, when we really pay attention, we see the threatened faith in the lives of our heroes. Like David, in the psalms, who cried out in anguish of heart: “Fear and trembling have beset me. Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.” (Ps 55:5-6) Or Asaph, the psalmist of chapter 73, who saw the success of the godless and groaned, “Look at these wicked people—enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply. Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?” (vv 12-13 NLT)

If we aren’t tempted to give into the world when being faithful to God is hard, then perhaps the temptation lies in either grumbling and complaining or hiding until the ‘all clear.’ And this grumbling, fearful spirit is not of the Lord. No, as Paul tells us, the Spirit we’ve been given is one “of power and love and self-control.” (2 Tim 1:7) The indwelling Spirit produces courage, not timidity and certainly not grumbling.

You might recall the fantasy Rich and I whisper to one another when life feels heavy: ‘Wanna buy a New Zealand sheep farm?’
In other words, Let’s escape! Because ‘here’ is too hard. But the ‘here and now’ is where the good Lord determined to place me, so I try to remember Gandalf’s wisdom and wonder how I can best apply it.

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Remember Whose You Are

What gave Frodo and Sam (and Daniel and David and Asaph for that matter) the resurgence of determination and strength to continue in faithfulness?
I think it happened when they remembered Home.
Sam’s encouragement is to remember that “there’s still some good left in the world…and it’s worth fighting for.”

All those saints listed in Hebrews 11—many of whom suffered torture, mocking, and flogging and wandered the earth afflicted and destitute—fought to remain faithful until the Lord called them Home because they believed Holiness was worth fighting for:

“All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were strangers and nomads here on earth. Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. But they were looking for a better country, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”
(Heb 11:13-16 NLT)

They desired a better country. A True Home—the one we most long for, the one we’ll lay down our lives for. A home that is not merely a place, you see, but a Person.

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.” (Ps 90:1)

And it’s in this Person we are called to dwell—to abide. When we are tempted to hide from our troubles, how many of us think some place away from here? It seems one of the chief reasons our devices are so alluring is because their proximity offers an easy escape. We have somehow believed the lie that the world inside those tiny gadgets can provide what we lack. Even when we know better, the pull toward the current is strong. The hard truth is any place here in Creation can only provide a temporary relief because Creation is a temporary and limited place.

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The Fruit of Abiding

There is only one place we can find satisfying, lasting refuge. And that is in Jesus Christ.³ Instead of trying to escape into Creation, let us instead escape into Him.

“A time is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home,” Jesus foretold. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:32-33)

The distractions of this world cannot satisfy us with lasting peace, but Jesus can. In a sermon on John 16, Alistair Begg unpacks this kind of peace:

“We’re not speaking here of a tranquility that removes us from the rigors of life, rather it is a settled awareness that all is well ultimately no matter how difficult the circumstances we face.

And we’re in dangerous territory, Loved Ones, each time we catch ourselves setting peace and trouble in two opposite compartments. For is it not the experience of Christ and those who went before and ours who follow that often our times of greatest peace are found in the areas of greatest trouble? If Daniel had not been in the lions’ den, he would never have known what it was like not to be eaten by the lions. But it was in the midst of the extremity that he found the peace.

You may be here this morning saying, ‘Lord, get me out of the lions’ den,’ when maybe what you ought to be praying is ‘Lord, shut the lions’ mouths.’ For the peace we long for is a peace which removes us from everything. ‘Well, I need to leave here. I need to go away from here. I need to go away to a cottage.’ Even if your body goes away to the cottage, your head goes with it. The real issue is this, that in the midst of our circumstances this morning, Jesus says, ‘I am promising you a peace.’

The reason I thought it an impossible task to resist conformity with the world is because I believed doing so depended solely on me. I mistakenly believed that because I acknowledged myself to be a ‘stranger on the earth’ it was up to me to find the strength to fight the evils of it.

How then do we persevere in this fight against our spiritual growth?

By abiding in the One who has already won the war. Reaffirming and strengthening our resolve in His life-giving word and love. It is through His power we will persevere—not in our own and not somewhere hidden in the world. By acknowledging our weakness and depending on His abundant grace we can obey His call to “seek first the Kingdom of God.”

“Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing…
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.” (John 15:5; 9)

John Piper beautifully explains the idea of abiding as a daily renewal of satisfaction in Christ. He says:

“…Abiding in Jesus—in his love and in his word—is trusting that he really is loving us at every moment and that everything he has revealed about himself and his work for us and our future with him is true. Believing in Jesus as our living water means drinking the water—savoring it and being satisfied with it. So it is with the sap that flows from the vine to the branch. We receive it, drink it, savor it, and satisfy our souls with it. This daily ever-renewed satisfaction in Jesus is the key to bearing fruit. This is what it means to abide in Jesus.”

“Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” (Psalm 90:14)

The lure to escape or numb the pain within is strong, as is the desire for man’s validation, but the grace of God is so much stronger (and so much more satisfying!) Let us arm ourselves with the abundant Love of Christ; let us drink it in daily and relish in His sufficiency. It is through abiding in Him, that our souls can finally find restoration and lasting joy. There is Good in the world, my friends, and it is worth fighting for—for the sake of our minds and our souls. For His Glory and for our peace.

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1. My teenaged son expressed these same feelings this past winter. I wrote about it here in an essay called, “What’s the Point?”

What's the Point?

2. Desiring God wrote an insightful article called “Smartphone Addiction and Our Spiritual ADD” which discusses five problems unmanaged social media use creates and then five suggestions for keeping our phone use ‘in check.’

I also enjoyed reading this article in Premier Christianity Magazine called “Why your Smartphone might be stopping you from following Jesus.” The author, Martin Saunders, reviews the book The Anxious Generation and argues the ways our digital culture offers a kind of ‘anti-discipleship.’ He closes by suggesting ways Christians can counter it.

3. “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:1-4)