Pondering Point

Here is an extended context of 1 Peter 5:8 (verses 9 and 10 added):

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1 Peter 5:8-10

8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.

Journal Prompts:  
What might vigilance – and/or a lack of it –
look like in the life of a disciple?

Sean Parker, the first president of Facebook now calls himself a “conscientious objector” to social media. In an interview with Axios, he begrudgingly admitted, “God only knows what it's doing to our children's brains. The thought process that went into building these applications, Facebook being the first of them... was all about: “How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?” And that means that we need to give you, we need to sort of give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or post or whatever. That's going to get you to contribute more content and that's going to get you… more likes and more comments. It’s a social-validation feedback loop, exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you're exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology.
~ J.M. Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, p. 38

Answer these questions now and be prepared to discuss ONE or TWO of them with others regarding J.M. Comer’s book quote:

Journal Prompt:  

What consumes huge amounts of time in your life?

How does hurry impact your life with and under God?

Have I settled for a mediocre version of faith and
relationship with God?

This notion: That which you give your mind to
(what you let be its focus) will shape the trajectory
of your character.

There are both positive and negative actions to remaining vigilant as followers of Jesus. From a positive or value-added view, think of being in God’s Word, being in worship and prayer, and being in relationship with other people who are also pursuing God. These are three values we speak about in following Jesus. From a negative or addition-by-subtraction perspective, think of limiting certain activities that vie for or get in the way of time with God, such as social media engagement, entertainment practices, or time-consuming habits/addictions.