Rethinking Our Entertainment Choices

There's potency in how entertainment influences and renews our minds. We shouldn't take that lightly.

I used to play a lot of video games. That's not surprising; a lot of men do. It never became an issue for me when it came to things like studying for school or getting work done. I've always strived to study well and to produce good work. But playing video games can take a large amount of time. And that time must come from somewhere. More often than not, the time I required to feed my entertainment fix came from what would have been spent with the Lord in prayer, meditation, and all the good stuff I needed to grow my relationship with God. It didn't necessarily mean that I didn't spend any time with the Lord. What it did mean, however, was that the time that was spent in prayer was usually kept at a minimum and it failed to evolve and deepen over time.

I'm not here to say that entertainment is evil and I'm not necessarily advocating for a ban on entertainment by all Christians. It does have a place in our world. But I do think we should seriously question the true impact and influence of entertainment in our lives. We usually just take in entertainment without much of a thought to how it's affecting us mentally and emotionally. As the popular expression goes, "You are what you eat." What we consume in the form of entertainment will eventually influence our thinking and behavior.

In the book of Romans, Paul exhorted the believers with these words: "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind" (Rom. 12:2 ESV). There's an important life principle that's found in this verse: transformation occurs by the renewing of the mind. This simple but profound principle works for both godly and ungodly ends. Regardless of what happens in life, you will experience transformation somehow. Transformation will happen. But the question is this: "Of which kind?" The answer will depend on what your mind is being renewed with—what is influencing it. If what's influencing your mind is of the Lord, then you can expect a godly kind of transformation to take place in your life. You'll end up quite like Jesus. If what's influencing your mind is of the world, don't be surprised if you end up looking more like the world and less like Christ. Therefore, it's important for us to seriously consider our entertainment choices. There's potency in how entertainment influences and renews our minds. We shouldn't take that lightly.

What can we do about it? Personally, I've found it very difficult to kick the habit of playing video games by brute force. I've attempted to go "cold turkey" at times with unimpressive results. If there was any success, it was quite minimal and short-lived. I've tried going "cold turkey" a number of times to no avail. However, here is what I have discovered that has worked for me and it may work for you too. Nowadays, I never actually say to myself that I won't play video games. I'd likely put up a fight right away. Instead, I say to myself that I'm totally fine with playing video games as long as I meet one important criteria: I finish doing all the things that give me real joy and delight first. And if I have any time left in my day, I'm free to play as much video games as I want.

I've discovered that getting really close to Jesus through various spiritual exercises gives me that real joy and delight. Video games cannot compare by miles to having spent real and genuine time with the Lord. And because spending time with Jesus is a real joy and delight, I naturally spend a lot of time doing it—about three to fours a day, in fact. If I happen to have any time left in my day after spending all that time with Christ, I give myself permission to go ahead and play a video game. But here's what usually happens: I end up having no time left for video games. It just naturally gets pushed out of my day.

So, instead of going "cold turkey" with your entertainment choices, try telling yourself that you'll get around to them if you have any time left after doing the things that give you real joy and delight first—especially spending deep times with the Lord. And if you have any time left, knock yourself out with entertainment. However, if you've truly discovered the deep delight that comes from being with the Lord in prayer and meditation, I'm willing to bet that entertainment will get pushed out eventually in favor of having more times like those. But don't just take my word for it. You will have to discover the deep delight of being close to Jesus on your own.

Barnabas the Monastic

Servant of Christ. Husband. Dad. Modern Monastic. I have a wild ambition in life: get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as I can while on earth. I explore and integrate ancient Christian monk wisdom in modern everyday life. Lives in Canada.