Paradise In A Distracted Age

“And I know that this man – whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows – was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no-one is permitted to tell.”

2 Corinthians 12:3–4 (NIVUK)

Caught Up, or Caught In?

Never has life been so full of distraction. There are endless things to get caught up in. Notifications, headlines, conversations, demands, entertainment, worries, opportunities. If you’re going to be “caught up to paradise” in our generation, it won’t happen by accident. It will happen because you intentionally choose it.

A couple of generations ago, life was quieter. There were no smartphones, no endless box sets, no social media feeds engineered to keep us scrolling. I was a child in the 1970s, when television was only just becoming common—and ours was black and white! My regular complaint to my mum was simple: “I’m bored!” Remember those days? When boredom was possible?

Today, we scroll through ten thousand movies and still find nothing to watch—yet somehow we’ve lost an hour. We’re never bored, but we’re rarely still. We’re always stimulated, yet seldom satisfied. Oh, to be truly bored again. To have slow, empty moments where the mind can settle, the soul can breathe, and the heart can hear.

“Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). We don’t do that much anymore—and so we don’t truly know. Instead, we live by a different creed: be quick, rush, fill time, consume, react. But that rhythm is not good for the soul. It fragments us. It dulls spiritual sensitivity. It crowds out the whisper of God.

The Sacred Space of Quiet

We need a renewed commitment to soul-care. Not as a luxury, but as a spiritual necessity. Quietness. Screen discipline. The courage to allow “boredom” back into our lives. Spaces where prayer, contemplation, meditation, silence, and solitude can reconfigure us. Places where the Spirit of God can speak again.

God’s voice is often not in the earthquake, wind, or fire, but in a gentle whisper (1 Kings 19:11–12). Whispers are easily drowned out by televisions, timelines, and endless pings. If we never reduce the noise, we shouldn’t be surprised when we struggle to hear Him.

Here’s a thought: what if we fasted screens and interruptions for a season? A day a week. A week a month. A sacred interruption of our interruptions.

I know this battle personally. Because of my work around the world, I have thousands of contacts on my phone. I vividly remember the phone shop worker transferring my contacts to a new device. “I’ve never moved 9,000 contacts before!” he exclaimed as the data flew across. With that level of connectivity comes a hidden danger: constant availability.

So I’ve had to make a decision—my devices will serve me; I will not serve them. Most notifications are turned off. I refuse endless group chats that drip-feed distraction. I separate work and private phones so rest is protected. I avoid private messaging on social media and redirect people to email when necessary. Why? Because constant accessibility invites constant distraction. And distraction is the silent enemy of intimacy with God.

Even Jesus, with only three and a half years of public ministry, repeatedly withdrew to lonely places and mountains to pray (Luke 5:16). If the Son of God needed solitude, how much more do we?

Choosing What You’re Caught Up In

Your soul needs space. Quiet. Down time. Without it, something within you shrivels. Your mind becomes a crowded room of competing voices, with no stillness in which truth can settle. Scripture warns us: “You cannot serve two masters” (Matthew 6:24). A divided focus leads to a weakened faith. “The double-minded person is unstable in all they do” (James 1:8).

There is so much to get caught up in—scrolling, gossip, political outrage, entertainment, trivialities, and the seductive pull of drama. But Paul speaks of something far greater: being caught up to paradise. Why not choose that instead?

Jesus stands at the door and knocks (Revelation 3:20). Not with noise, not with urgency, but with patience. He invites us away from the clutter into communion.

As Josiah Queen sings so poignantly, “We’ve got dust on our Bibles and brand new iPhones, and we wonder why we feel this way.” The problem is not technology itself—it’s what we allow it to replace.

Choose to be caught up with Jesus. Choose stillness over noise. Presence over performance. Depth over distraction. When you do, life will feel different. Faith will feel alive again. And paradise will no longer feel distant—it will feel near.

Believe & Confess Meditation & Declaration

I am still before God, and I know Him deeply (Psalm 46:10); I hear the gentle whisper of the Spirit clearly (1 Kings 19:12); I choose what is eternal over what is distracting (Colossians 3:2); I withdraw into secret places to seek God’s presence (Luke 5:16); I open the door to Jesus and welcome His fellowship (Revelation 3:20); I fix my mind on Christ and walk in spiritual stability (James 1:8; Hebrews 12:2).

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