Entertainment Is Quietly Starving Your Soul

It’s not a fair fight Jesus versus Netflix. And let’s be honest most days, Netflix wins.

We live in a world built for constant stimulation. From streaming platforms to viral videos, from app updates to news cycles, entertainment is no longer just something we enjoy it's something we depend on. And the spiritual toll is more real than we care to admit.

Decades ago, some pastors used to call the television “the Devil’s Box.” Today, that might sound dramatic, but the numbers are sobering: recent studies show that practicing Christians watch more TV than their non-Christian peers. What was once an occasional distraction has become a lifestyle.

And it’s not just TV. We fall into YouTube black holes, chase TikTok trends, and binge-watch entire seasons in a weekend. Entertainment has become our emotional support system. But at what cost?

The Power of Constant Stimulation

Entertainment isn’t inherently evil. Stories can teach, move, and inspire us. Jesus Himself used stories parables about lost sons, hidden treasure, and shrewd managers to teach eternal truths. But He didn’t tell them so people could spectate; He told them so people would change.

Today, however, most of our story consumption ends with a scroll or a remote click, not with transformation.

We chase plot twists and cliffhangers to escape monotony. We invest emotional energy into fictional characters while struggling to feel anything in prayer. We’ve grown so used to stimulation that silence feels uncomfortable and God feels distant not because He’s absent, but because we’ve drowned Him out.

According to Nielsen’s latest report, the average American spends over 11 hours per day interacting with media. That’s more than two-thirds of our waking hours. If the devil can’t make us wicked, he’ll settle for making us distracted.

The False Fulfillment of Binge Culture

Here’s what’s tricky: entertainment often scratches a very real itch. We long to be moved. We’re hungry for meaning. We crave a storyline that makes sense of our lives.

So we watch redemptive arcs. We admire courage on the screen. We feel vicariously alive through someone else’s drama. But at the end of the day, we’re still just watching.

The truth is, we’ve replaced the dangerous, glorious, soul-awakening story of walking with Jesus for passive consumption. We've exchanged a living relationship with the Creator for pixelated shadows of adventure.

But the Christian life isn’t a spectator sport. Jesus didn’t die so we could sit on the couch more comfortably He called us to take up our cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23). He called us into the realest story there is: one of sacrifice, beauty, pain, purpose, and eternal joy.

Reclaiming Awe

Brother Lawrence, a 17th-century monk, wrote about experiencing God in the simple act of washing dishes. That might sound quaint, but it’s revolutionary in our time. If God can be encountered in chores, how much more can we find Him when we choose to draw near?

We don’t need to throw out our screens. But we do need to re-evaluate their place in our lives. The danger isn’t that Netflix is “bad” it’s that it’s loud. Louder than our Bibles. Louder than our prayers. Louder than the still, small voice of the Spirit.

A.W. Tozer once wrote, “The world is perishing for lack of the knowledge of God, and the Church is famishing for want of His presence.” That famine is worsened every time we numb ourselves with another distraction.

God is still speaking but are we still listening?

A Better Story

Here’s the challenge: don’t settle for secondhand stories when God is offering you the real thing.

He’s not just a preacher’s idea or a Sunday sermon. He’s the God who split seas, raised the dead, and still transforms lives today. He’s the One who wrote your story and He wants you to live it with Him.

So the next time you feel the itch to escape, pause. Ask: Am I filling time or am I feeding my soul?

You were made for more than passive entertainment. You were made to know the living God, to walk with Him through joy and sorrow, and to experience His presence not just in church, but in everyday life.

Because the greatest stories aren’t watched they’re lived. And yours is still being written.

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