I am in a Thursday morning bible study at church and we are in the middle of a Beth Moore study on Daniel. Before I go on to my point, let me just say that I have LOVED this study. It is one of my favorites that I have ever done.

Here is a quote that was part of our homework last week. It is both haunting and convicting... needless to say, it has really stuck with me. I have thought about this a lot in the last week since reading it and I would like thoughts and opinions from you. Here it is...

We try to get [joy] through entertainment. We pay someone to make jokes, tell stories, perform dramatic actions, sing songs. We buy the vitality of another's imagination to divert and enliven our own poor lives. The enormous entertainment industry in America is a sign of the depletion of joy in our culture. Society is a bored, gluttonous king employing a court jester to divert it after an overindulgent meal. But that kind of joy never penetrates our lives, never changes our basic constitution.  The effects are extremely temporary-- a few minutes, a few hours, a few days at most. When we run out of money, the joy trickles away.                                                         -- Eugene Peterson

I love the last line "When we run out of money, the joy trickles away," how many times have Miles and I sat around bored and miserable because everything that we "could do" costs money. UGH... awwww Babylon, you have a grip on us in more ways that we are comfortable admitting!

Beth Moore quotes Peterson while making the argument that we live in a type of Babylon where we (American culture) are overindulgent and growing numb to the excess in our culture.  We live in a Babylon of "excessive luxuries."  We have lost the ability to do all things in moderation. To quote Beth Moore, "Sometimes moderation in a culture of excess can be more challenging than abstinence."

So... how do we find that moderation? What is a moderate amount of entertainment? What does that mean? And what about the entertainment that seemingly shapes our lives? There have been times that entertainment has turned into enlightenment; does that still count as diversion?

Here are a few more questions that Beth Moore uses to get us thinking: Can we be culturally relevant for the cause of Christ without becoming spiritually irrelevant? Can we serve the world in the name of Christ without becoming a servant to the world? Can we live in this excessive, self-absorbed culture without becoming corrupted by it? The answers to these is an obvious "yes," but saying and doing and two totally different things. It is MUCH harder to do than to say... It would be good for me to keep these questions in mind as I go about the day.