For my Old Testament class this week, we read in Exodus 20 - 40 & Leviticus 1-10. {Yep - all of it! I am doing pretty good at reading all the required scripture!} Here are my thoughts:
In Exodus 32, Moses comes down from the mountain after receiving the 10 commandments and finds what you see in the picture above. We see how quick the people of Israel forgot God. Moses takes the golden calf and burns and has the children of Israel drink the golden calf. How do you think that tasted? I think his desire was for the people to see that when they worship false gods, it is unpleasant but when they turn to the Lord, it is a good experience. (I sure wish we could sometimes take our computers and burn them! There is so much filth on the Internet these days!)
Tonight, President Nelson held a fireside for the youth (12 - 18 years old) of the church and spoke to them about their mission. (Can we talk about how that man does NOT look 93?!?) He gave the youth a 5 step challenge. 1. A 7 day social media fast. 2. Weekly sacrifice of time to the Lord. 3. Keep on the covenant path. 4. Pray daily for all to receive the blessings of the gospel. 5. Stand out. Be different. Be a light. So, our family decided to all join in on the social media fast. We have deleted all social media apps from our phones. Maggie doesn't have social media, so she decided to do a 7 day fast from her phone and YouTube. (This is HUGE!!) I wish the older 2 were going to be home this week. (They'll be in San Diego with our 12-14 boy youth group.) I look forward to seeing how this will change the dynamics in our home!
How do these things mesh? Well, what does the golden calf symbolize? I would say it's a distraction from what is most important. Throughout our lives our golden calf will change shape, color, and size. However, it is what is keeping us from praying more, serving more, spending more time in the scriptures, spending more time with our families, and doing our callings. I think that social media is a HUGE golden calf for some and not so big, but still there, for others. One of my boys is obsessed with watching all the sports clips on Instagram (can you guess who it is?) while another one only has Snap Chat for school projects. (Please don't lecture me about snapchat....I know!) However, there is a golden calf or two in all of our lives, not matter what size, shape, or color it is right now.
The question is this: what are you willing to do to burn that golden calf and cleanse yourself of that influence in your life? With the golden calf gone, we can start to focus more on fulfilling our mission instead of wasting our time on Pinterest, Instagram, or Facebook (or books, or sports, or exercise...) Care to join us on our 7 day media fast? I am choosing to: delight in the words of the prophet, delight in quiet time, delight in my scriptures, delight in my family....
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