Iwas chatting with a friend recently, and he recounted a rather interesting incident. He was working into the night while keeping watch over his son, who by this time was still very active and energetic. Then the most unlikely thing happened… he fell asleep… while his less than 1-year-old little boy was wide awake and at large! Awake and alone with all the “toys” he had been meaning to play with all the while but hadn’t gotten the chance to.

Few moments later… (There’s only one way to read that. lol)

My friend woke up to a well “dis-signed” laptop screen that had become dysfunctional and a grinning lad whose joy knew no bounds. He had just achieved his “childhood” dreams of playing with the famous Daddy’s toy with many buttons and a wide light screen. Oh, what a joy… it was for him, not sure I can say the same of his father. It was an immediate emergency as his work depended on that laptop. By the next day, he had to go buy a brand new screen for his laptop so he could be productive at work.

His boy had just gotten a treat, but he had been thrown into the frenzy of an emergency.

Just this weekend, my daughter saw a nice looking laptop doing “nothing” on the work desk and thought to engage it in baptism… You know how the story goes.

Children don’t share your scales of value nor your metrics of importance. In most, if not all of the cases, children have your scales of value in reverse. They’ll rather scoop some good portion of sand with that spoon than eat with it, or use your iPad as a bouncing castle than work with it. They don’t see the world the way you see it. To them, everything has “play with me” written all over it.

Stay with me…

I was in prayer one of those days, and I was led by the Holy Spirit to pray against the spirit of Lopsidedness in His Church. I didn’t understand what that meant initially. What demons have such sophisticated names these days? But as I prayed, it became apparent to me that there is a demonic spirit the devil deploys into people groups and communities; sometimes, he deploys it into a whole generation.

This spirit’s objective is simple: It incentivises people to value vanity and discount destiny! This spirit inspires people to place tremendous value on things that are eternally worthless and discount matters relating to Kingdom and Destiny. It was the spirit that sponsored that famous and profane deal made by Esau.

When this spirit is at work, it’s incredible the level of joy, delight, and relish human beings created in the likeness and image of God derive from engaging in activities that are so debasing, if seen from a divine perspective.

Cannabis, for example, is a plant from Paraguay and Cuba, while alcohol is the product of leaving substances till they become stale and infested with fungi and bacteria until they ferment. How have these natural elements, which God designed for man to have dominion over, become so powerful that they’re the ones having dominion over man? These two substances have become so “valuable” that multi-billion dollar industries are built around them. Too many dysfunctional homes and cities are clear evidence of the ravaging tendencies of drug and alcohol abuse, yet, the next generation sees all these and finds a way to outdo their predecessors in debauchery!

God made it clear to me that the spirit of Lopsidedness works hands in glove-with spiritual childishness. To be childlike is different from being childish. Jesus Christ admonishes us to be childlike, but Apostle Paul beseeches us to put away childish things. When a believer remains childish, he or she places tremendous value on the least important things in life, like entertainment! That, for one, has become the bedrock of almost every industry today: a world driven by Social Media.

Social Media is driven by Marketing Objectives! Marketing Objectives are all about grabbing the attention of unguarded eyes! Attention is most effectively secured with entertainment! Put out the most informative piece online, and you can personally reply all the comments you get (I’m sure you know what that means), but put out something hilarious, nude, provocative or ridden with whoremongering, and see how your video travels beyond the boundaries of your limited social influence. That is dopamine in itself, and boy, does it pump you to create more of such attention-grabbing content!

A little more about my friend…

Imagine how my friend would have looked at his son after realising he had smashed his laptop for sport. The laptop that ensures he’s productive enough to take care of his family, especially the needs of this same boy. That is the laptop the boy chooses to use for leisure. Combine that with the grin on the face of the little fella… Not sure how my friend would have felt. Laugh, Cry or Cruyff (I laugh in Catalonia 😉). He’s having so much fun at his Dad’s expense.

That’s exactly how God looks at a generation that has forsaken the use of time and attention and has placed it all on their screens; streaming, clicking and swiping away. Attention span decreased by 25% between 2000–2015 (8 seconds from 15). It’s been 8 years since then… How many seconds do you think it is now? It’s now at an all-time low, and there’s no guarantee it’ll slow down in its fast-paced descent. We’re a generation that, though watches everything, has lost its watch! Though sees everything, has lost its sight! Though knows everything, yet has no frame of reference for meaning!

Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD. — Jeremiah 9:23‭-‬24 KJV

A sign that you’re growing up and banishing the spirit of Lopsidedness in your life is that you begin to value destiny whilst discounting vanity. It is that you can choose to spend 5 hrs in Bible Study, 3 hrs in prayer and 2 hrs reading and listening to spiritually energised materials, all in one weekend! It is that you value the fellowship of the brethren more than going to binge on movies that honestly add nothing but dopamine and eye bags.

As we grow in the things of God, we must hold dear the things that have always been dear to the Apostles. Technological advancement does not advance doctrine! And there will be no sentimental concessions in judgement for those who lived in the 21st Century on that Great Day. God will not account for the distractions that social media posed to your spiritual growth.

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. — Acts 2:42 KJV

These things, which were dear to the Apostles and Saints over 2,000 years ago when there was no social media, ought to remain dear to us to this day! How much value do you place on the Contemporary Apostles’ Doctrine through lavish inundation into their Faith Teachings? How much value do you place on Fellowshipping with the Brethren through diligent and faithful service in His vineyard? On the Communion and other sacred Christian sacraments? How much value do you place on Prayers? On consistent and fervent prayers? Have you replaced them all with podcasts, tweets and playlists? Everything is not phoné and vibes! Life is still as much Warfare today as it was in the Valley of Elah! We need to torch the past before we can pass the torch! We need to contact a certain dimension of fire from our Fathers, else there’ll be nothing left to pass.

There’s a minimum spiritual capital that must be handed over to the next generation. A generation that must still see Pastors quoting copiously from Scripture; they must see bread servers preaching the entire Bible fearlessly; they must see Missionaries and Passionate Soul Winners. Not everything can be wokified! We will have no excuse for increasing the spiritual deficit in our generation. There must be an irreducible minimum that the next generation must meet.

If it wasn’t eroded in 2000 years, let it not be eroded in 50!

God bless your heart.

Have a destiny conscious week ahead.

Dami Oguntunde

@damioguntunde