Turn it off

“I think the devil has made it his business to monopolize on three elements: Noise, Hurry and Crows…Satan is quite aware of the power of silence.”
— Jim Elliot

“Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed”
Luke 5:16

Mark Driscoll (of Mars Hill Church) has a terrific piece in Relevant magazine called “Sound Wisdom.”

Driscoll documents his life – he wakes to an alarm, turns on his blackberry, checks his email, listens to the radio while showering, watches TV while dressing, turns on the radio while driving to work. Once at work, his laptop plays songs and his cell phone vibrates all day.

And on and on it goes. He is surrounded by constant noise.

Driscoll finally found a way to say “enough.”

He found some example in Jesus, who took an entire 40 day period of silence in the desert before His public ministry.

Driscoll takes an entire day away from all things electronic each month. Each hour, he takes a five minute break just to cleanse. Marcus Goodyear, our friend at the High Calling also took a social media sabbatical.

And in light (hah!) of last Saturday’s “lights out hour” , perhaps we are just a little too comfortable with the electricity-driven noise that surrounds us. You don’t have to do it for the planet, but maybe we should do it for our souls.

So…what do you think about shutting down and turning out? Can you do it? How long? Leave your thoughts here.

“I challenge you to spend the next 5 minutes in silence — “unplug” from your electronics, turn out the lights, close the door and simply stop whatever it is you’re doing — and then just sit and bask in the silence. I think it’s safe to say that God is at work even when we’re not.” – Mark Driscoll