If you're average, you give away 17% of your life to this.

There are hundreds of them in Walmart. You can find them in most people's houses. They make a lot of noise but don't to a lot of work. They're in lobbies, on college campuses, in hotels - of course: TVs. Is there even a place in America one can go that's a hundred miles away from the nearest TV? That's a scary thought to me.


I was having this conversation with my brother-in-law Aaron and my (adopted) sister Hannah last weekend in Kansas City. It all started when I went down to the lobby. It was early. I had gotten up before 7:00 so I could go down, eat a somewhat quiet breakfast, and read my book Reformation: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow by Carl R. Trueman. The Today Show was on the lobby TV. As I read, I found myself constantly glancing up at the news and weather reports on the show. I couldn't understand it. Why can't I keep a straight focus on this book? I pondered.


Take a look at this. (Note that it was done by a professor of science and education). How many families in America own TVs? Ninety-nine percent. Sixty-six percent of homes have more than one. Six hours and forty-seven minutes is the average time a TV is on in an American household. Parents spend 3.5 minutes every week having meaningful conversation with their kids while the average child watches 1680 minutes of TV. So the time kids' eyes are focused on the TV is 480 times more than that of meaningful conversation with their dads and moms. The study goes on to say that by the time a child is out of elementary school, he will have seen 8000 murders on TV. Eight thousand. Look at the top of the page: the average American spends 4 hours, 17%, of his day watching TV. If he lives to be 65, he will have given 9 of those years to TV-watching.


(Just as a side-note here, my brother-in-law tells me that the mind is more active while sleeping than while watching TV).


And how many Americans say they watch too much TV? Eighty percent? Or maybe the 66% who own 2 televisions?


Nope. Less than half.


The TV was made for man, but now TV is the master of man. It is for this very reason that I quit Facebook. And it's for this very reason that I'm sick of seeing TVs everywhere I go. Besides Starbucks, I honestly cannot remember the last place I saw a person reading a book; strange, isn't it?


Look around you. When a TV is on, where are people's eyes? Are they on books? On their study notes? On each other?


Yet this is only the beginning. Throw in iPods, iPads, iPhones, iTunes, and whatever other iThingambob there is along with MP3 players, radios, smart phones, dumb phones, COMPUTERS, laptops, PS3, and the Wii - and you get a culture saturated in media. Then add the idolatry of cars, athletes, dieting and exercise, sports, games, food, hobbies, and what-have-you.


What have we done to humanity?


Maybe it's time for me to step back and say, "Hey, wait a minute. I've spent at least twenty minutes texting today, but I haven't even asked my Mom if she needs me to do anything. I've spent hours stuck in front of monitors, but my room is a mess. I've listened to 20 songs but haven't even read from a book. I've driven ten miles and haven't even prayed for my friend who is in Italy doing missions work."


Maybe it's time to take a break. What if we could see the things that Paul talks about that aren't profitable? What would it take for us to be able to say with him, "I will not be mastered by anything"? Let's start using the media for the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of Jon.


Instead of an hour of TV, maybe I could spend an hour praying. Instead of listening to music for forty minutes, perhaps I could help my brother with his homework. Instead of checking my email again, what if I went up to the kitchen and cleaned the dishes? And what if I did it all for the sake of loving God and loving people? What if I lived my life like it was built on the rock of Jesus Christ?


Time.


Talents.


Treasure.


(TV).


They all are gifts from God. May we steward them well.






1 Corinthians 6:12 -
All things are lawful for me, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.