Gospel Reset: A Three-Day Media Fast and Bible Study
It’s been a hard week for many of us since the storming of the Capitol last week. And that’s on top of an already hard year leading up to it. Our country is a hot mess. Our social media feeds are a dumpster fire of fear, anxiety, misinformation, rumors, and panic. A lot of us are hurting and on edge as we try to take it in. Many of us aren’t even sure what to believe, or who’s telling the truth. Maybe we don’t want to believe what our eyes clearly see. Many of us are sad, anxious, and afraid, even upset with one another. All of us are overwhelmed in some way.
The reaction for many of us has been to up our media consumption. Whether we’re fixated on cable news, hate-reading our social media feeds, scouring the blogosphere, or getting into fights in the comments sections, we find ourselves being drawn ever deeper into the existential crisis of it all, retweeting our favorite hot takes, and arguing as though the end of the world is at hand.
But I’m convinced that what many of us (myself included) truly need in this moment is a gospel reset. This is an invitation to take a three-day fast from social media, news, blogs, posts, and whatever opinion pages are floating around, and instead devote ourselves to the Word of God and prayer. Whatever time you would be spending watching the news for scrolling through your feeds, spend it with the Lord instead. This Bible study, which I put together for our Stonebridge family, is designed to guide you through that time.
Here’s how it works:
1. Get a partner. Whether it’s your small group, a friend, or a spouse, find someone to commit to doing this with you. Not only does this provide accountability for the fasting component, but an opportunity to encourage one another, process what you’re learning, and support each other moving forward.
2. Get off social media and the news. Fasting from media is a critical part of this process. Not because we shouldn’t be informed; being informed is a good thing. But how are we filtering the information we’re taking in? Whose voices are dominating the way we think about things? What’s our grid for discerning what is true? How is it affecting our hearts, our words, our behaviors, and our blood pressure? What many of us need is a spiritual detox, cleansing the garbage that clogs and clutters our souls, that the Word of God might take priority once more, and that the kingdom of God might reclaim our proper allegiance. For some of us this might require deleting certain apps from our phone for a time. Whatever it takes to get off the apps, push away from the keyboard, turn off the news, and open our Bibles.
3. Get in the Word. The point of a fast is not just going without something; it’s replacing it with something better. A hunger for God and the nourishment of his Word. The following Bible study is designed to guide you in reading, reflecting on, and applying God’s Word to our lives in this moment, specifically 1 Peter 1-2. Day one focuses on God’s kingdom and the object of our hope. Day two looks at our character and what ought to flow from our hearts. Day three helps us consider our conduct and how we carry ourselves as followers of Christ.
Because some of us may have more time on our hands than others, depending on our typical media consumption, we’ve also provided a “Going Deeper” section for each day, which takes you through an additional passage of Scripture for study, prayer, and reflection.
So find a partner, pick your days, and let’s let gospel of Jesus reset our hearts, hope, and perspective.
Day One: Kingdom | 1 Peter 1:1-12
Going Deeper: Romans 8:18-39
Day Two: Character | 1 Peter 1:13–2:10
Going Deeper: Matthew 5:1-16
Day Three: Conduct | 1 Peter 2:11-25
Going Deeper: Romans 12:9-21
in the meantime 
Fantastic. Thanks, Brandon.