Dissent from the Kingdom of Noise

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Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed. (Luke 5:15-16)

Now more than ever, we are living in what C.S. Lewis’s devil Screwtape called “the Kingdom of Noise.” And I’m not just referring to the obvious increase in external noise created by nonstop news, entertainment, and the buzzing of the devices in our pockets and purses. I’m primarily referring to what all that external noise creates—namely internal noise that blocks our ability to be silent and reflective.

Our lack of solitude stands in stark contrast to the way of Jesus. The number of times the gospels mention Jesus withdrawing to “a solitary place” is staggering. In the third gospel alone, Luke mentions Jesus’s love of “lonely places” three times in just one and a half chapters (see Luke 4:42, 5:15, and 6:12). 

My favorite mention of Jesus’s pursuit of solitude is when he “withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place” to get away from the crowds (Matthew 14:13). So important was silence to Jesus that he would literally just jump into a boat to get away from all the noise to pray, think, and listen to his Father’s voice. 

And oh by the way, the busier Jesus got, the more it appears he sought out silence. Luke 5:15-16 says that as “the news about him spread all the more…Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

Jesus’s example leads us to the third principle we need to be purposeful, present, and wildly productive:

Principle #3
DISSENT FROM THE KINGDOM OF NOISE
To redeem our time in the model of our Redeemer, we must fight to block out noise and create room for silence, stillness, and reflection.

If we want to do our most exceptional work for the glory of God and the good of others, we, like Jesus, must fight for the quiet solitude we need to think, be creative, and listen to God’s voice. How can we do that today? How practically can we dissent from the Kingdom of Noise? 

In my book, Redeeming Your Time, I share nine practical answers to that question. In this video, I share one of the most life-changing of those practices—”Let Your Friends Curate the News For You.” Watch here.