In chapter 10 of Blue Like Jazz, Don Miller wrote, “I was wondering the other day, the way it is that we turn pop figures into idols? I have a theory, of course. I think we have this need to be cool, that there is this undercurrent in society that says some people are cool and some people aren’t. And it is very, very important that we are cool.” I would say that we are not only preoccupied with being cool, but are fascinated with things that are “cool.” For example, fashion, gossip magazines, soap operas…or even deeper obsessions, such as pornography, or the power that comes with more and more material possessions. People have this hunger, this need, and they can become obsessed. Things seem so bright, so beautiful, so flashy, and we indulge ourselves once, then again, and again, until we are enslaved.

For instance, when my mom took a flight down to Florida, and she sat next to a teen girl who was obsessed with her pile of gossip magazines. She talked to my mom about celebrities, without relent, for the entire flight. She was a sweet girl, but all she was capable of thinking or talking about was Brad Pitt, Katie Holms, Taylor Swift... Mom isn’t interested in gossip magazines, but she was intrigued and sobered by this girl sitting next to her. What she came to realize by the end of the flight was that this girl was lonely, extremely lonely, and she was using gossip magazines and TV to cover it.

We all do this. It may not be gossip magazines, but we have this potential to so quickly absorb ourselves into something worthless, in order to receive the temporary pleasure or comfort it provides. We sell ourselves. In the Bible, they call this idolatry. This is a temptation to everyone, but in America, with opportunities for obsession around every corner, it is especially dangerous. The more a person gives themselves to something shallow (or sinful), the more of themselves they lose. We are so, so distracted that we forget to stop and think. A person can move through their entire life always under the thumb of one obsession or another, until they reach the end of it, and find they’ve missed it.

Don Miller wrote, “Satan, who I believe exists as much as I believe Jesus exists, wants us to believe meaningless things for meaningless reasons.” Unfortunately, it is easy for Christians to give themselves to worthless things. We must watch ourselves. We must keep our eyes on Christ, keep him at the center of our hearts and lives. We must “live for what we believe,” as Don Miller put it, and fight against becoming absorbed in distractions that can lull the soul to sleep. He wrote, “The problem with Christian belief – I mean the real Christian belief, that there is a God and a devil and a heaven and a hell – is that it is not a fashionable thing to believe.” We must remember the truth, regardless of whether or not it is fashionable. And we must live for it. Miller insightfully noted that, “the problem with deep beliefs is that it costs us something. And there is something inside me, some selfish beasts of a subtle thing that doesn’t like the truth at all because it carries responsibility, and if I actually believe these things I have to do something about them. It is so, so cumbersome to believe anything. And it isn’t cool.” We must resist this, take up our cross, and follow Jesus, for if we give ourselves to worthless things, we will be spiritually crippled.