Transcript

We would like to thank our sponsor, Preborn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound

Dr. Jessica Peck: We would like to take a moment to thank our sponsor, PreBorn. When a mother meets her baby on ultrasound and hears their heartbeat, it's a divine connection. And the majority of the time she will choose life. But they can't do it without our help. Preborn needs us, the pro life community, to come alongside them. One ultrasound is just $28. To donate, dial pound 250 and say the keyword BABY or visit preborn.com/AFR hello,

 : and welcome to the Dr. Nurse Mama show, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families here on American Family Radio. Here's your host, professor, pediatric nurse practitioner, and mom of four, Dr. Jessica Peck.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Well, hey there, friends, and welcome to my favorite time of day, getting to spend time with you, prescribing Hope for Healthy Families. Listen, I've got an important message that I want to share with you today. And so I'm going to spend the whole hour with you sharing some insight, sharing some of the things that I've been looking at that have been on my radar, things that I've been following and something I've been talking about on the show quite a bit. Now, if you're a regular listener, you know that I've been using this phrase called digital discipleship. And I'm getting lots of questions saying, jessica, what do you mean by that? What is that? And today I'm going to take some time to answer that question. What is digital discipleship? We've been also talking on the show about having a crisis of discipleship, how we have a lot of spirit, spiritual curiosity, but that is not translating into a discipleship journey, into an active posture and changing your heart, your home, your routines, your habits to lead you on a path towards sanctification, to becoming more like Christ. That is what we want to do as Christians. Well, that has been deeply complicated in this modern world because we have all of these digital forums. And we need to make sure that our own personal spiritual growth and discipleship journey is in that digital world as well, especially for kids growing up who are not, who are digital natives. We are not digital natives. We were not born. And I'm saying we. Anybody, Millennials and up, anyone born around 9, 11 to, before that. We did not grow up with technology as an inherent part of our lives. Today's kids are growing up not only with the expectation that technology will be present, but the expectation that technology will work for them, will be excellent, will be in every area of their lives. So we have this really odd kind of generational span where each generation is using and its technology and engaging with digital platforms differently. But those principles of discipleship are for any age and any stage. So when we live in a world where our phones, our social media, our screens shape how we think, how we feel, how we connect with, what does that mean for our faith? We are being subtly and not so subtly influenced by the algorithm. If you, even if you think I'm a very low tech person, I don't use technology hardly at all. It's still influencing you and I'll tell you how. And we are going to really look at digital discipleship as an intentional spiritual formation, looking at our online lives and making sure they match our in person lives.

90% of today's teens use social media every single day

And our anchor scripture for today comes from Romans 12:2, Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And we need to renew our minds to look and see what kind of things are causing us, are tempting us to drift spiritually in a digital world. And we don't want to fragment our life into our offline faith, how we act in real life and our online habits. Sometimes there is a real disconnect and we are two different people in that moment. And I know no one wants that. So today I'm going to give you some, some hopeful practical tips. And of course rooted in scripture, not fear based to say, oh my goodness, where is the world going? But where's the world going and where is God and all of that and how do we need to follow God now when we look at Digital Life Today, 95% of teens have a smartphone, more than 99% have access to a smartphone. And 90% of today's teens use social media every single day. And about half of those say they're on it constantly. Now we see a pushback for this. We see schools starting to say, hey, no phones here and we've got to have some boundaries. Boundaries are absolutely healthy. And the problem is that this technology brings such market potential, it can make so much money. And we're experimenting without setting those boundaries first. And so everything is reflexive, it's reactive. We're kind of figuring out, oh no, that didn't go well. Let's what can we do better instead of how can we plan responsibly for the future? I wish that we could do that, that that train has left the station, friends. But the average screen time for teens is about nine hours per day, with younger kids also increasingly online. And we see this screen interaction is where relationships and identity formation, moral cues and messaging, these are happening and they are happening to compete with the presence of parents and other caring adults in their life. That's what makes this. Because in the past, parents did retain the most influence, but now we have these online influences that are growing even more because they're more interactive and they're more powerful. They're driven by the algorithm. Now, the algorithm is basically a computer program that figures out what do you like, what makes you click, what makes you stay on this platform, what makes your eyes linger longer, what makes you go to a certain site. And we're going to give you more of that because we want to keep you on this platform so that we can make more money with more advertising, with more products, with more influencers, with more usage of our platform. That gives us more marketing power. And the algorithm is shaping what you see in your feed, the news that comes, the people that are suggested to you to follow, the people suggested to you as friends. It's, it's shaping what you think because it is shaping a particular narrative. And it even shapes how you feel because it curates feeds for engagement. If you're staying on longer, when you see things that give you dopamine hits, that make you feel good, that make you laugh, that make you smile, it's going to give you more of that. If you're fed by angry feeds, well, it's just going to give you more things that make you angry so that you can keep scrolling. And the outrage of it all rather than truth. And the result is that children and adults, we are internalizing these digital narratives that sometimes conflict with biblical teaching and sometimes it's subtle and we don't even realize it's there because we are influenced by influencer culture. Influencers are shaping identity. They're shaping moral norms in ways that often bypass parental and church guidance. And we just see this vicarious credibility, oh, so and so follows this influencer. They must be good. They must know what they're talking about instead of having the discipline to check it out and vet it ourselves. And teens especially may measure their self worth and their relational status against how many people are clapping for them online rather than what God says about them in his word. Now, I am a history buff. Call me a nerd if you want. I don't care. I love history and it's fascinating. And I believe that God gave us history. The Old Testament is full of biblical history because we can learn from that. We can learn from history. So I want to give you a little history lesson. And it's fascinating to look at the evolution of digital media. And when we start looking at the things that have happened. When we're in today's world, social media, gaming, now we have AI companions, even streaming platforms, all of these are becoming the primary channels for socialization, for learning and identity development. Even in the past when teenagers the social scene was at clubs and people would go to dance. Now we see they're, the dance floors are disappearing. People don't want to do anything where they might be caught on video, where they might be the next viral sensation of look how dumb this person looks, look how you know, just really ridiculous this person looks. People are shying away from those in person environments. They don't want to be, ah, doing anything at a wedding that might be caught on video. Just I'm just going to sit and be a wallflower. And we have this kind of wallflower culture because of fear of viral videos. But these platforms are designed to capture and it just takes our time. The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy and our time is being stolen from things like real life relationships with real living human beings, with praying, with being still, with listening to God, with reading our Bibles. We also have the problem of these filter bubbles. We live in a world that is filtered because this personalized feed that is fed to you by the algorithm, it creates an echo chamber where everybody says what you want to hear and you don't hear other personalities, perspectives. You don't hear that push and pull which should be there. In theology it's saying, I don't know about that. You know, the last time I checked you're not God and your word doesn't go for anything. Let, let's isn't the end all be all? Let's have a conversation about this. We see kids who are avoiding conflict because they don't have conflict online. I'd rather be online and have be in the echo chamber where everything's just in my comfortable little bubble that I have created. And families can unknowingly exist in parallel worlds. We see these digital silos where each member is in a different digital silo and they don't share reality even in the same family. So something happens on the news, one person in the family is going to interpret it a, way different way than someone else in the family. And then we see increased conflict and increased tension. And one person says, well this is all that I'm seeing, this is how that happened. And another person saying no, this is the filter of reality that I'm using, this is how it happened. And it can be really difficult to figure out where is the truth in all of that. Now this Impacts our family life, our meals, our bedtime, our shared routines. All of these things are constantly interrupted and research is clear. Multitasking is not effective. It just fragments our thoughts, and more importantly, it fragments our relationships. One of the more sobering things is that we often live a secret life online because nobody's watching what you're streaming, and maybe, you know, you're just living a completely different life. There's a lot of secrecy there because you can curate an online Persona that's very different from your offline selves. Now, sometimes that's not nefarious. You're not going online to say, oh, I'm going to engage in all kinds of secret sin. It's a slow slide, it's a slippery slope. It's a slow fade. It's. It's a, drifting that happens by a series of micro choices. And then all of a sudden you don't recognize yourself online. That fractures our mind, it fractures our body, it fractures our spirit. Because if we live one way in real life and another online, we have confusion about who are we really? Where do we really belong? Where is the. That we have guilt and shame, and maybe you're not even sure why. And we see this, this digital life intersecting our daily life because in morning routines, instead of doing a morning devotional praying with your family, just speaking to one another, everybody's just scrolling or streaming. When you have a, break from school or work, you scroll, you game, you, you play little games online. And so it's funny to me how sometimes I will hear adults, especially really talking badly about video games, and yet they're the ones that are going to play solitaire or Candy crush for hours on end. I know I, I am, I am a victim of some of those games sometimes. I love puz of games. But we gotta be careful in pointing the finger at someone else because usually there's three fingers pointing back at us. But the scrolling, the gaming, it replaces moments of reflection, scripture, meditation. When we're out in the public instead of interacting with real people looking for opportunities to share the gospel, to encourage someone to get to know someone, to recognize what's happening in our community, we just go to our digital silo scroll and evening, the evening wind down. We have scrolling. We're not praying, we're not reading scripture, we're not spending time with family. We're scrolling. And there are hidden spiritual lessons in these digital spaces. Some are good and some are not good. What we engage with online, it is shaping our moral imagination. It is shaping our ability for Empathy and compassion and our interpretation of even what that is, it is shaping our capacity for patience, for self control. Because algorithms are amplifying content to you, they are feeding you things that are emotionally compelling that the algorithm doesn't have discernment. It's not the Holy Spirit, it's not thinking, what do you need in your life right now to grow? It's not spiritual aligned. And without intentional guidance, that faith formation is just invisible. It just disappears in the digital life and we miss an opportunity there. We see we start to define our self esteem through what we see online. Our view of successes is altered by what we see as other people having success. And why don't I have that house? I have that job, why don't I have that family? And then we start to have a skewed concept of God's favor and blessing because people are posting saying I'm so blessed, I thank God for this. Well, I don't have that. Where is God in my life? I don't have that blessing. And then we see faith formation start to be subtly influenced. And that's why we've got to resist that drift and constantly teach our families and model in ourselves discernment, biblical grounding and resist these digital silos, resist family fragmentation. Because this personalized feed, it makes us feel like we're alone. It tells us that lie. You're alone in the world. No one understands like you do, no one feels like you do, no one sees it the way that you do. And when we have intentional shared reflection and conversation about what we're seeing online, that is going to help our worldview. Well listen, I've got a lot more to say about this. When we come back, I'm going to talk to you about some hidden technology interactions about ways that you are interacting with technology every single day. And maybe you don't even recognize the temptation for spiritual drift in that space. We'll talk about it and take a self assessment. It'll step on your toes, but it'll step on mine too. I'll see you on the other side of this break.

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Friend of God by Phillips, Craig and Dean: Is it true that you are thinking of me? How you love me? It's amazing. I am a friend of God. I am a friend of God. I am a friend of God. He calls me friend.

Dr. Jessica Peck: Welcome back friends. That is Friend of God by Phillips Craig and and Dean Oldie but a goodie and such a great message. in this world where we have all of these platforms with online friends that we don't even know in real life, we're just friends online, it is a good reminder to that God calls us friend and that is the biblical view of friendship that we need to have. And in this age where all of these online environments start to shade the filter with which we we see our life, we need to make sure that we're biblically grounded, that we are looking at our online lives and making sure that they match our in person lives and making sure that we're being intentional about looking at our digital lives for places where we can drift. Technology is neutral, but how we engage with it is surely not. You cannot engage with technology in a neutral way. It shapes your heart, it shapes your mind, it shapes your soul. And there are some common interactions that can quietly lead us to drift from biblical values. Matthew 26:41 advises us, Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. This is an active posture. This is not just, you know, okay, well just try to make good decisions. It's watch and pray.

There is a subtle drift in your life when you look at social media

And so I invite you to do the first of those with me in the next few minutes to watch, to look at your lives. I'm going to go through some different ways that you might see drifting in your life in if you take the time to look at it. The first place we're going to look is your social media interactions. Now for those of you who are not on social media, hallelujah. Cue all of that that's not my Circus celebrations because it really does alleviate you of a Lot of responsibilities and a lot of temptations. There's some great benefits to social media. It in and itself is not bad. But there is a subtle drift. When we start scrolling feeds, we can have time spent on social media that would be better spent elsewhere That subtle drift can come through comparison. Comparison is the thief of joy. And we start to feel this kind of subtle envy, jealousy, discontentment with our own life, thinking, ugh, well you know, she's got the perfect family, he's just got the perfect job. Oh, everything always seems to be going well. Look at them jet setting around the world. We start to have this negativity and algorithms that are pushing content to maximize engagement. They're going to appeal to your insecurity, they're going to appeal to that discontent because that is a great opportunity for them to swoop in and market something. So if you're scrolling through something and maybe it's everybody's traveling and you're not traveling well, all of a sudden, budget friendly traveling right here, here's products that you can buy, here's a city adventure that you can have, here's air tickets on sale. It is all about marketing. So ask yourself, do I compare my real life to what I see online and am I seeking affirmation through the algorithm or am I seeking God's approval? We can also see drifting in social media through likes, shares and comments because that subtle drift is all of a sudden we're seeking identity validation externally rather than in Christ. Maybe you post something without any thought, but it gets such a positive feedback and it makes you think, oh that, that felt great. I, I really liked being affirmed. I don't know the last time I've had so many people say some positive things. Let me try to post another one. Oh, let me, let me try to do more of this. Let me craft my image because I like getting that feedback. Now is that inherently wrong? No, but it's a subtle drift where you start to seek your identity validation from other people rather than having your identity anchored in Christ and you share content to for that dopamine hit rather than to glorify God. And so the, the question is who or what is driving your sense of value? Now we can drift and following influencers because we absorb their values that may or may not be aligned with scripture. Influencers are just masters at normalizing behaviors, normalizing lifestyles, normalizing attitudes that are counter to faith. And a lot of times they hide them in this very super spiritual language when where it sounds right but it's not Right. And we've got to really ask ourselves, is this content shaping my heart? Is it informing my spiritual views, or is this simply entertaining me? That's important. We can also see in social media a big temptation. A big trap for some people is private messaging. And we have seen pastors have issues with this where it comes out their messaging life does not match their public life. And it can happen to any. Anybody. I say that only because the pastor stories were made news. But, thank goodness not every. That doesn't happen to everybody because I think that's a very painful experience. But the subtle drift is having secret relationships. Maybe your spouse doesn't know you're chatting with somebody about. Your parents don't know you're chatting with somebody, gossiping, saying inappropriate conversations, saying things that you really wouldn't want other people to hear. And it feels innocent, but it moves boundaries over time. So you need to ask yourself, could this interaction compromise integrity or my godly witness? this message was on full display and we all struggle with that. That's hard because we're unguarded. But we need to be on guard.

First area, binge watching or auto playing. This is intentional by companies

The second area we talked about, social media area number two to think about is whatever you're streaming that on demand media, whatever is playing in your house. First area, binge watching or auto playing. This is intentional by companies. They want to autoplay. Oh, the next episode starts in four seconds Here. You can even skip the intro. Get right to that. Where we used to have to wait a week or maybe even a whole summer to find out what is going to happen on the next season of that show. Now we just have time. They just want. The algorithm wants you to stay on the platforms. That's why platforms are employing the best psychologists in the world. That's not a fair fight with us. Fighting against psychologists. Psychologists who wake up every single day and their whole job is to figure out how to get you to stay on the algorithm. They're thinking about it, they're being intentional. They're using every professional skill they have. And here we just open up our phone. It is not a fair fight. It is absolutely not a fair fight. And we just don't get give it a second thought. That is time spent. That's disconnected from God and family. And even resting, it takes our sleep. We stream late at night. We replace our devotion, we replace our family time. And we need to ask ourselves, are we prioritizing content, consuming content over spiritual rhythms and disciplines? The other thing that can happen in that auto playing is exposure to moral themes that are contrary To God's scripture. We see normalization of sin, we see desensitization, desensitization to immorality. Maybe you watch a show and then there's a scene in there that you think, ooh, maybe the language is saltier than I should be watching. Maybe the, the explicit, maybe it was just that one scene, you know, I, I, I just, I kind of fast forward through that. We start to normalize it. We start to become desensitized to violence, to sexual content. And you know what else? We can all talk about that. Everybody can say, yeah, okay, we, we get that's wrong. But you know what else I see something that is really a subtle shift in society is really mean spirited humor, being cynical and just speaking in a way that is not Christ honoring, just that, getting that little burn in, you know, like, oh, yeah, that's a great comeback. Yeah, that was, oh, that was really good. That's not good. That's not honoring to God. So we need to ask ourselves, are we internalizing messages consistent with scripture?

Another hidden hazard is gaming. There is big money involved in competitive online gaming

Another hidden hazard is gaming. Because we see, first of all in competitive online gaming, it is competitive. There is big money involved in competitive online gaming. We see this now with the, advent of online gambling platforms even, which is a form of gamification. And the subtle drift that we see is this pursuit of achievement. Oh, I just want to win. I just, I get greedy. I want more rewards, I want to win. I want that whatever it is, or just frustration or anger when you don't, you can be obsessed with the leaderboard status, like, I've just got to stay there or have toxic interactions with other players. And you can think, is my joy tied to God or is it just based on what I'm achieving on this gaming platform? The other danger in gaming platforms is role playing or immersive worlds. This is where the reality is becoming so real that it's not just like you're playing as another character. You really feel like you become that character. And with virtual reality and technology increasing, honestly, if we're really honest, I know people are going to say I'm pearl clutching. I don't care. It leads to identity confusion, it leads to escapism. I like being that person better than I like being this person that I am. I like my online life better than my real world life. And if you don't believe this is happening, look at all of the movie genres that are coming out. This dystopian. I'm living in this altered reality. There have been some very successful movies about that. And Neglecting real life responsibilities. You spend hours as a character whose values conflict with biblical living. If we're going to be honest, that just ha. That can happen. So you need to ask yourself, am I living in God's reality or a self crafted digital fantasy? We can even find a temptation to drift in search engines and in interaction with artificial intelligence, with AI. AI because we have this passive consumption of search results. Most of the time when Americans have a problem, we go to Google for an answer. We start to Google an answer much before. We don't go to open our Bible first, we don't go to a trusted friend first, we don't go to a spiritual source verse, we go to Google. And now we're going to AI companion saying oh, what do you think I should do about this? And the drift there is that we can accept worldviews or truth, truth that is presented without any discernment if we are just following whatever advice is given. We need to ask ourselves that's not inherently a bad thing. But are we testing information against scripture and godly wisdom? We see temptations and AI chatbots and virtual companions because we are. We can seek emotional intimacy or validation from programming a machine seen instead of from imperfect humans the way that God designed us to live in community. We can confide in AI. We can follow its suggestions for relationships or values or decisions. And we're seeing this play out in real time where we're seeing people who have married their AI companions. And I always feel strange even saying that because it doesn't even feel like that's the right vocabulary because you really can't marry and an invisible entity. But that is the framing that is there. And we can see that happening through that emotional attachment or even to the other side being pulled into self harm and even ending your own life. And we need to ask who or what is forming my heart and my conscience? Am I investing in the online relay and the online and my real life relationships as much as my online relationships? And God has given you people in your life to steward. God has giving you relationships to edify you, to build you up places where you can serve that's in your family, in your community. And are we investing in those we can be tempted through digital work, even things that are marketed to us as productivity tools. Because if we have those notifications that are telling us it's always on and that subtle drift there is to be constantly distracted, to constantly have fractured attention, not focusing on prayer, not focusing on scripture, not focusing on any meaningful conversation, we're Having with a family member in our home. We're checking emails or messages during family meals. We are and constantly defending it, saying I just, I've got to check this real quick. Well this is important. My job is important. I'm providing shelter. Like I know those things are tempting, but we need to think, are we giving our attention to God or to the urgent but non essential things? Are we just being tempted to drift by that always on mentality? We can be tempted by digital entertainment during breaks. We just our idle consumption. It is a, ah, habit. If we have any moment of downtime at work, at school, in line, anywhere, our hand immediately goes to our phone and that thumb starts scrolling. It's just idle consumption. Instead of taking that moment, can we pray for somebody? Can we think about something? Can we just sit in the silence? What habits are down dominating your downtime? We can be tempted through e commerce and online shopping because this consumer mindset, instant gratification means hey, you want something, treat yourself, get whatever you want. We just browse for things to buy and we respond emotionally to advertising. So we have to ask ourselves, are we anchored in contentment, in God or material things? All of these things feed social and cultural comparison. When we have news feeds that feed us constant anxiety, fear, cynicism, and it decreases our hope, it decreases our trust in God. We think, what is happening in the world? I'm just so discouraged. I'm so angry. I'm just so over this and following every breaking news story. We just feel constantly on edge. And so we have to think, am I letting the news shape my spiritual posture or am I letting scripture guide me? This can even happen in memes or viral content like things that are funny. There are some really funny memes, but there's also ways that it shifts humor, it shifts cultural norms without even thinking about it. Having a video, a viral video of maybe someone with a disability that is really in poor taste. And then all of a sudden you see these popping up on church websites and there's just, there's a there's a just an uncomfortableness there. We need to be intentional, allowing to saying, do we allow culture to teach us ethics and what is right or scripture? Do we laugh at sin, at content that trivializes sin, that trivializes suffering, that glorifies mean spiritedness, that glorifies things that are not God honoring.

Keep a diary of every time you interact with tech. Discuss this with our families

So if you're feeling overwhelmed, don't worry. In our last segment, I'm going to give you some practical help and hope, but I just encourage you. It's a massive out Your daily tech interactions. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow. Keep a diary of every time that you interact with tech. And then think, how is this impacting my spiritual journey? Where are there places of spiritual tension? Are there places of moral compromise that those tech platforms are pulling you to? And how do we intentionally align our hearts? And we can discuss. Discuss this with our families. Talk about this with your family. And I'll Encourage you from First Corinthians 10:12, if you think you're standing firm, be careful that you don't fall. When we come back, I'll talk about ways to be careful. I'll see you on the other side of this break.

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The Jesus Way by Phil Wickham: And if you're helpless, I will defend you and if you're burdened I'll share the weight and if you're hopeless Then let me show you there's hope in the Jesus way I follow Jesus I follow Jesus He wore my sin I'll gladly wear His  name he is the treasure he is the answer oh, I choose the Jesus way

Dr. Jessica Peck: welcome back, friends. That is the Jesus Way by Phil Wickham. And that's exactly what we're talking about today, intentionally choosing the Jesus way. It doesn't happen naturally. We don't drift toward discipleship. We drift toward sin. I think of one of my favorite songs. Come thou fount of every blessing and the line that says, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it Prone to leave the God I love. Such an honest confession. There is something so powerful about singing that song in a congregation and collectively confessing God. We are prone to wander, Lord. take here's my heart. Take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above. And today we're talking about ways that we can be intentional about pursuing our own wandering heart and bringing it back. You know, culture tells you, follow your heart. Heart just go. What does your heart tell you? And Scripture tells us the heart is wicked above all things. Who can understand it? That is the countercultural message. And today I'm talking about the concept specifically of digital discipleship, of our online lives. And I'm encouraging you to look at your online lives and see the ways that it has been, that we have been shaped by online interactions and the temptations to drift in that way. We are outsourcing our discipleship to an algorithm and to influencers. This is something I've been talking about and really concerned about because influencers can be really, really helpful. I hope the influencers here at American Family Radio encourage you, edify you, inform you, equip you, and help you to strengthen your faith. But they should be a supplement to walking in a church, walking in discipleship with other people who know you, you who love you, who can show up with a casserole when something goes awful, who can celebrate and show up with a cake when something goes right, and who will call you out when you need it and who will encourage you when you're feeling down. And we have these ways that I've talked about drifting online. We also have ways that we are outsourcing that discipleship to be so passive, to be fed to us by influencers. And we're relying on content instead of scripture. We're watching devotionals or sermons or YouTube pastors, but we are not engaging directly with the Bible and opening our Bible. And you might listen to a 10 minute influencer message and think that counts as reading scripture. It doesn't. We let algorithms curate our faith by following influencers who post Christian content, but we're just letting the algorithm choose. What do I need to see? What do I need to believe? What is the character trait that God is working on in me? There's no intention in there. And we have these, the social media content dictate our spiritual priorities. And instead of reading, praying, talking to God directly about it, and we use those influencer values as a moral compass. What is their opinion on this? What do I think about this issue? Well, let me go to the influencer and see what do they think about it. That can be informative, that can be helpful. I hope that you find that helpful here on American Family Radio. But it also needs to be tested against scripture, tested against prayer. And we need to make sure that we are doing that. We, we can't, avoid community accountability using those influencers as a substitute for, like I said, mentoring, church, small group discipleship. This is a problem because we are just as a society, as a people, letting our spiritual growth become so passive and just fed to us. We are amplifying that consumer mentality rather than being intentional thinking, what character trait do I want to work on this shift year? What, what is God doing and refining in my life. And our faith becomes consumer based, shaped by trends and personality rather than God's Word. And that is really concerning. Concerning.

How do we prioritize our spiritual growth and make sure we're not drifting?

So in all of that, how do we reclaim our discipleship? How do we prioritize our spiritual growth and make sure that we're not drifting in these ways that we don't even realizing it? Well, here's number one. One, it's really simple, but it's so difficult to do. Number one is prioritizing scripture over screen, making sure that God's Word is the driving force in your day, that you are making time for it. Because we used to say I don't have time for it. I don't, I don't have time. But. But one of my guests recently said no, it's that we're not making time. You don't make time. Make time for God's Word to interact with the Bible, use a devotional as a guide, not a substitute for the Bible. Number two, practice discernment. Really think, does this align with God's Word? Is this online interaction pointing me toward Christ or is it pulling me towards human sin? Is it pulling me towards temptation? Ask that practice discernment be very intentional when you are engaging in online platforms, especially when you're bringing in a new online interaction action. Number three, build rhythms of personal prayer. This is, this is what we've been talking about in 52 habits for healthy families. Just even five minutes praying a day, that can make all the difference. Instead of just outsourcing everything to the algorithm, letting other people pray for you, pray over you, pray on your own. And you see these are building on what we've been talking about. Number one, habit. Number one, week. Number one, first week of January prayer. Number two, reading scripture. Number three, going to church. Number four, listening to Christian music. Using Christian music as an intentional part of your of your discipleship growth. Number four, on how you can reclaim your discipleship is intentionally engaging community. Again, this is just a recap of the habits that we've been talking about. It's the grace of God that he makes these solutions so simple. But we're prone to wonder. Join a church. Church. Get in a small group, find a mentor, discuss lessons from scripture. Instead of only talking about the news, read the Bible together. Number five. And the way that you can reclaim your digital discipleship is use digital media as a supplement, not a replacement. So we can watch and read. Influence for inspiration, for encouragement, for clarification, just like you're doing today. That is amazing. Amazing. But it shouldn't Be the primary faith formation that you have so that primary faith formation is going to come through. Emma said it already. Enough prayer, reading your Bible, going to church, listening to music that edifies scripture. And the last thing, number six is ask for accountability. Have someone say, ask them, how do you see my discipleship journey? What do you see my spiritual growth? Just look at what I'm, how I'm spending my time, look at how I'm spending my money. Give me some accountability and share some insights that can be a really hard thing to do. And so I want to, as we're just entering this moment of self reflection and I am right there with you, let me give you 10 questions to reflect. Now that we've talked all about this, let me ask you 10 questions and just take a minute moment to think about your own life and evaluate yourself. Number one, where am I giving my attention? Do I spend more time engaging with screens or with scripture? With real life? Am I more in my online life or my real life? So number one, where am I giving my attention? Number two, who or what is shaping my worldview? Really ask yourself that. What is shaping your worldview? Is it influencers? Is it social media, Is it algorithm? Or is it scripture and the whole Holy Spirit? Number three, am I living a consistent identity? Do my online actions and Persona reflect my real life faith or am I living differently online that I am in real life? Am I online and offline? Are they disconnected? Number four, what is motivating my engagement? Am I just seeking affirmation? Am I seeking entertainment? And am I seeking connection online or in real life life? Are you seeking spiritual growth? Number five, does your screen time nourish you or drain you and make you feel guilty? It's the content you consume. Do you finish watching that and you think, oh, I feel so encouraged and uplifted by that. That was really thought provoking. That really made me think. Is it pushing you towards the fruits of the spirit, Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control? Or does it make you feel anxious? Does it make you feel dirty? Does it make you feel shameful? Where is your screen time? What is your screen time? How is it making you feel? Question number six, are you passively absorbing or actively discerning? So are you accepting messages without evaluating them against scripture and you're just thinking, yep, whatever comes to me, I just don't really give that much thought. Are you being active in discerning and comparing the messages that you get to what God's word tells tells you? Number seven, how Is technology impacting your relationships? Is it a point of tension? Does your spouse, does your family constantly complain you're on your phone, you're not paying attention, you're distracted? Or is it fine in the way that you're using it together? Does it bring your family together? Question number eight. Are you using technology as a tool or as an escape? Are you using it to intentionally grow, to connect, to learn? Are you just trying to avoid any discomfort? Are you just numbing out, you're just bored, you're just checked out? Question number 10, do you integrate faith into your digital life? Are you praying? Are you reading scripture? Are you having spiritual conversations online? Are you engaging with faith based platforms? Or is it just, that's something that I do. Awful. Ah. And question number 10, are you accountable for your digital habits? Do you have people, does your spouse know your password? Do they have access to your email, to your social media chats? Can they get on your phone and look at anything that you have streamed without any question? We need to be accountable for those digital habits. So it's a good reminder for us that drift is so simple, subtle, but it's cumulative over time. When we see it, we can be intentional about resisting that drift. And it's not about, okay, I can't do anything bad online, it's, I've got to replace these things, renew our minds, be transformed by replacing those with healthy habits. Instead of, I gotta get offline, I gotta get on offline, I gotta get offline. It's, I've got to be more intentional and be more present. I've got to do more things with my family, family, I've got to be more engaged. So there, those are just some practical ways that we can think about through our families, just being aware of it, being intentional about modeling our faith practices in our digital life, modeling healthy boundaries, even the parents, all the rules for technology should apply to everybody in the house. If it's tech free time, it's tech free time for everybody. And watching things together instead of having all of those digital silos, that will go a really long way. But it's important in the context of all of this to choose family rhythms over rules. It can't be rigid. You can't have your phone at the table. It's just, hey, this is our family rhythm. This is our time together. This is great. This is a time where everybody can put their technology away and we can really engage and talk with each other. Talk to your kids, especially about tools for discernment, asking them when they're consuming Content, because there's so many shows that are so normalized for teens, that do not edify and encourage and do not reflect the values of God. And so ask them, is this content aligned with Christ's character? Is it building you up or is it tearing you down? How is this content shaping how you feel, how you think and how you act, how you love? That is so important. And most of all, we need to give our family an anchor and a, faith and a God who never changes, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God sees everything. He knows everything. Those digital spaces are not outside of God's reach. And Scripture affirms. God calls us as disciples to live in truth, to live in intentionality in every context, even including online, which is not specifically mentioned in the Bible. But the technology revolution was no surprise to God. The discipleship in our family needs to be relational, not reactionary, not reacting to how we're acting in digital spaces, but, but strengthening relationships and having that digital discipleship come naturally through that relationship. And there are ways that you can just pick an actionable step this week. What do you need to do as a family to reclaim that digital space? Maybe just talk with your family about it. Gather your family together and say, hey, let's talk about our in person life and our online life. Do they match? Where are their places of tension? How are we stewarding technology well, and where can we do better? And then just pick one little habit. This summer we'll be talking a lot about tech habits. I talked about those last summer too. So if you want to get a preview or a jumpstart, you can go listen to any Friday show from last summer where we talked all about tech habits. This is not going anywhere. And as Christians, we really need to acknowledge the reality, reality of the moment and find ways to use technology for good and to make sure that our discipleship journey is extending into our online lives. And it matches the same values that we're pursuing in our real life lives. And I encourage you more than anything to pray for your families. Pray that God would give you wisdom. Pray that he would give you discernment. Pray that he would give you courage, courage to set healthy boundaries. And pray especially for families who are raising children in this digital landscape, that God would equip them to disciple their children faithfully. And I pray that God would help you integrate faith into your daily life. And I thank you so much for listening to these reflections on digital discipleship wherever you are, what, whatever you're streaming. Thank you for streaming us today. We are here to encourage you, to edify you and to point you toward the Lord. And I pray that he would bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you. And hey, I'll see you right back here next time. We'd like to thank our sponsors, including PreBorn. PreBorn has rescued over 400,000 babies from abortion. And every day their network, clinics rescue two hundred babies lives. Will you join PreBorn in loving and supporting young moms in crisis? Save a life today. Go to preborn.com/AFR

Jeff Chamblee: The views and opinions expressed in this broadcast may not necessarily reflect those of the American Family association or American Family Radio.