Contentment in the Age of Instant Curiosity
- In a narcissistic world, the illusion of control demands constant awareness—if we’re not “in the know,” we feel less like gods.
- True peace begins not with instant updates, but with instant prayer – choosing intercession over obsession.
It happens almost every day. Someone hears sirens, sees flashing lights, or watches a helicopter fly overhead. Within moments, a post goes up: “Where’s the fire truck going?” or “Chopper! Anyone got the deets?”
We live in a time when not knowing feels intolerable. The urge to post, to ask, and to instantly gather information is almost reflexive. Jason Thacker, in Following Jesus in a Digital Age, writes that “technology is shaping us in ways that we may not even notice,” and he’s right. It’s not just shaping how we communicate; it’s discipling us to feel like we must know everything, now.
Professor Jacob Shatzer likens it to the old adage that everything looks like a nail to a man with a hammer. As Shatzer put it, “When you’ve got a smartphone with a camera, everything looks like a status update.”
We’re not just noticing the world around us; we’re framing it for reaction. And often, that reaction isn’t prayer or peace; it’s more noise, more demand, and more distraction.
There’s an old saying: “Curiosity killed the cat.” The phrase dates back to the 1500s and originally read “care killed the cat,” meaning worry or sorrow would do you in. But over time, it shifted to warn against poking your nose where it doesn’t belong. In our digital age, we don’t just poke – we broadcast our curiosity and wait for someone else to satisfy it.
But the Bible gives us a better posture: contentment.
Paul writes in Philippians 4:11, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” And 1 Timothy 6:6 reminds us, “Godliness with contentment, is great gain.”
What if, instead of rushing to be the first to know or share, we were the first to stop and pray? What if the sound of sirens didn’t trigger status updates, but silent intercession?
Maybe we’re not meant to know everything that is going on at every minute. We’re not God! Ahhh, maybe that’s where the rub is. In today’s narcissistic world, we are our own gods, so if we don’t know something, we must have it given to us now to stay in control.
The more we feed the craving for constant information, the more restless our hearts become. But when we learn to be content—even when we don’t have all the answers—we start to walk a different kind of path. One that leads to peace.