It doesn’t really matter what time you stop by my house, I’ve always got coffee on, and I’m always up for a good conversation. I miss the time before smartphones, when people actually “went visiting”. When I was little you knew where to find your friends, not from Facebook, but finding the front lawn with a pile of bikes in it. We need that, actual interaction, with our fellow human beings to make a revival.
Everyone’s so busy in this day and age, so wrapped up in life, visiting has become a luxury not everyone can afford. But I maintain a good cup of coffee shared between friends is priceless. Getting together shouldn’t be something we have to pencil into our schedule it should be something we look forward to naturally. Why is actual social interaction growing so awkward? Dare I say “unnecessary”? May I hypothesize that I no longer need to “see” you because I can “see” you on social media 24-7.
Is this what Jesus is talking about when he says “love thy neighbor”?
I do believe God designed us with a need for fellowship, it blesses us to be with others. We do have a need to interact, to experience real smiling faces not just emoji’s. We are losing that. When did we get too busy just to have a cup of coffee with a friend. No wonder people suffer from depression and anxiety – we need loving, nurturing, flesh & blood people in our lives. We need more human touch and less technology at our fingertips. It’s made us cold and unaware of those around us. Jesus calls us to serve our fellow brothers and sisters, and that’s hard to do when we are bowed before our iPhone, oblivious to those around us.
“He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” – Luke 10:27
Do you spend more time with God than your phone or vice-versa? Is the Bible what you reach for first in the morning? Do you find yourself using your phone to do things you know God has warned you about? And have you allowed your phone to replace loving your neighbor with liking your neighbor on Facebook?
Most of us, in 2017, commit techno-idolatry. We worship our phones and online egos more than God and spend more time with them than our family and friends. The Bible warns us about the lust of the eyes, the flesh & the pride of life, which are all a huge part of social media. We need more genuine love in this world and God created YOU to do that very thing – share his love with others. We desperately need coffee and face to face conversation. We need real conversation and not more online content. We need cook outs and camping trips with friends, long talks by backyard fires, late into the night. God designed us to be social creatures, it’s part of his plan.
Look up, you are surrounded by people who need you to show them Jesus Christ today. Technology is here to stay, that’s a given. But we must learn how to have a healthy balance and to steer clear of making our phone a demigod. That is where we are headed. We now often run to google before God to answer our questions. Be honest with yourself and set limits. It seems innocent and acceptable because everyone is doing it and our society revolves around constant contact on social media.
But that is the worlds way of doing things, not Gods.
I urge you to pray about this. I was so convicted by the time I spent on my phone I actually switched to a flip phone. It’s so archaic that it makes everything so hard and time consuming to do that I have surrendered to just having a cell phone for calls – no apps or text. My habit of scrolling endless hours of nothingness has subsequently ended. I understand, many people can’t do this, because many use cell phones for work as well. Just review your habits and if you find your phone is your number one priority most of the time then I suggest seeking Gods help in placing him back into top spot. God is all about balance, so please I urge you to pray about how God wants you to use your cellphone, surrender even your phone to him.
“Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” – Corinthians 10:31
“For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.” 1 John 2:16
*** I recommend the Interlinear Hebrew Greek English Bible for an accurate study of scriptures. Also available in a 4 Volume Set (larger print than single volume) Interlinear Hebrew Greek English 4 Volume Set
http://www.healthymindministry.wordpress.com
Healthy Mind Ministry 
Wonderful post as usual. Now, I have a phone and I do love my apps, but most of my apps are Bible related. I have Bible quizzes apps, the KJV Bible, a history app, and languages apps. I do have Whatsapp because some of my friends live very far or out of the country and I prefer to keep contact with them there than on Facebook (which I don’t have anymore). However, I use Whatsapp like twice a week if so much. I am currently organizing a fun trip for my friends so we can catch up.
Sounds like you have a handle on it and have balance, plus your phone is full of good stuff. That’s wonderful!
Love this. I struggle with this a lot and have recently gotten back into my walk with God and He’s been convicting me of this very topic.
Well thank you and welcome back home ❤️
Cool… I use a flip phone too. Ha!
Awesome 😁
Yeah… I thought I was just being “old school”. I have a love/hate relationship with technology. I love two features of it that have changed since I was a kid. Push buttons instead of rotary and cut the cord! (I remember stretching the rotary kitchen phone cord all the way to the back of the house to try to get privacy while I talked to the little girl I thought was going to love me forever (cant think of her name now!).
Aside from those two features, I think we were doing real good up until then. Now… I am lost in the new gizmos. Cant keep up with all the updates. Miss talking to my neighbors (like you said)… I pretty much hate it.
But I am an old codger. That is our domain, I think.
I’m 41 and I don’t hate technology. Technology can bring us closer together in some ways (us having this conversation over thousands of miles of distance for instance) buuuutttt it can like anything else become something need to seriously examine in our heart if we use it as God would will us to.
Yeah… it’s like the power for good is there, but seldom really tapped into. Sometimes, but not that much really.
I remember when I was young, I was a Hospice volunteer caring for an old last-of-his-breed cowboy who was in his 90’s. He and I talked a lot about getting old… all the tech he had seen in his life. At that time I still had not seen a cell phone, I don’t think.
He said he grew up on a ranch and the nearest neighbor was like 3 miles away and town was another 5. He said he knew his neighbor 3 miles away back then better than he knew the guy living in the nextdoor house when I met him and that was only 15 feet.
Watson and Bell spoke over the wire in real time bringing the east coast and west coast together for instant communication! It was amazing. But ironically, now my kids will text each other while sitting on the same couch! I am way more apt to talk to my neighbor over the phone than over the fence – but even that is a far fetched idea nowadays. We hardly know each other!
The same tech that brought Watson and Bell together drives us apart as we absent mindedly just fall for every new bell and whistle. Humanity is damaged. Sad. And I think you are correct to say God is not honored by that.
Reminds me that several years ago I looked into a handful of seminaries for potentially attending them. All of them offered whole or partial degrees on line. This was great for ministers living in the bush somewhere or out in the sticks. But when I looked into Duke Divinity School, they insisted their students physically attend classes. They said it was a Christian theological education and therefore must be conducted IN COMMUNITY – not cyber connection.
Hmmm… It was a powerful point. Made an impression on me.
We are all anxiously awaiting the coming of Christ…not nervously by with much anticipation to check out of this mess here on earth!
I take classes at a school called Christian Leaders Institute it is an online seminary. You can earn up to a Bachelors Degree through them which is transferable to other Seminaries etc. But they will not ordain you without your church mentors being on board and laying hands on you in a real church under real deacons and elders. For me in works because I live on a farm and have 4 children (2 currently at home – 2 grown) I can’t just up and leave the responsibilities I have to go to school. So often you will find me in the garden, headset on, with my tablet on and me listening to a lecture on something to do with the Bible.
For me at least, it has been a total answer to prayer…and since it has definitely drawn me closer to God…I know it is from him.
You make countless valid points. I preached a series called “Identity Crisis” because of the temptation to base my identity on my internet persona. Very convicting thought!
The simple golden rule I follow is :
Does this (whatever it may be) bring me closer to God or does it pull me away from God? And in the case of the smartphone- I KNEW it was not drawing me towards God. It isn’t easy to give up something you think you love – but you must if you feel like it Masters you. That’s when you really know you have slipped into idolatry- when it has mastered you. It has become your master.
1 Corinthians 6:12
NIV ” I have the right to do anything,” you say–but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”–but I will not be mastered by anything.
KJV “All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”
I am with you, no apps, only send or receive less than 12 texts a day. I use wordpress, and google for a random search once and a while. I cut out the news too. Technology is making us a society that interacts even LESS with each other. Breaking us down further. No bonding between brothers and sisters, only isolation, playing games, watching videos, etc.
Someone once said they call it a cell phone because it becomes like our prison “cell” we are locked inside….willingly.
Very true. I sat in a restaurant and saw whole tables that no one was talking to each other. They never looked up at each other, the servers that brought out the food, nose glued to that phone screen.
😢 when our loved ones pass on we will regret all those lost moments.
Amen
Well you know my thoughts on this. I totally agree with everything you say on this subject except the coffee bit. Can I have tea please? 😂
I have Earl Grey, Black, Oolong, Chamomile…and my favorite called “Constant Comment” which would you prefer love 😁
I’ll try the last one. That sounds interesting.
🍵 coming right up. (It’s a black tea with spicy undertones. I love it )
Thank you. I’ve heard all about this Southern hospitality. 👍🏻
🙏🏻💕
You hit it on the head, speaking of idolatry. Anything that takes first place in our life that is not God is an idol. So often we give God the leftovers and not our whole attention. <ost Christians give more time and attention to what the news, Facebook and other media say than what God is saying. We depend on ourselves and give lip service to God rather than our heart–our mind, will and emotions. The multi-media is merely a symptom of being disconnected from God.
Amen! Studies show that people spend upwards of 8 hours a day looking at their phones. That’s insane. If people spend 8 hours a day in Gods Word, prayer, and worship….this world would be a better place!
What can I say? Almost everyone in my family is dead, and those who are still alive have moved far, far away.
I don’t need much inducement to limit the role of technology in my life. You know it mostly drives me crazy. We have one phone on the wall, period. I talk to my editor, who is also my friend, every weekday. She lives almost 1,000 miles away, so forget the face-to-face. My wife talks with her best friend every day: 2,000 miles away.
I’m grateful to God for the people I’ve met via blogging, some of whom I hear from every day (you, for one). I know I’ll never meet them in person because of the distances involved. It would be nice if a few of us could hang out on the porch on a summer night and smoke cigars (or not, as the case may be). Alas, the friends I did have, I grew away from them and now I wonder what I ever saw in them.
Anyhow, I find the social media–if that’s the right word for my very limited and inexpert use of it–an awful lot better than nothing: and I do give thanks for it.
You are not what or who I am talking about. It sounds as if you have your situation under control not vice verse.
I see so many people just walking around like zombies with their face down in that phone. I took my son to see the fireworks on July 4th in a crowd of nearly 500 people I think he and I were in the handful of people who just watched it.
Couple in the fact that every sinful filthy thing is just a touch or swipe away, the enemy has a new advanced weapon of warfare in the temptation department. So I pray…and pray some more….
But seeing as how we have read the Book…and already know the ending…we know it’s going to get pretty nasty as time passes…so I just pray Jesus comes back soon.
For the life of me, I can’t imagine what they find to talk about.
Wow- this was intense and allowed me to think about this factor. It is definitely an element of confusion for me as I struggle to decide what apps to keep or get rid off (I have yet too). It ‘s hard being in an era where everyone connects this way. I try to keep a balance by following religious blogs to keep my media more spiritual, but there are still elements of social media that are draining and make the decisions difficult. Blessings! Xoxo Love your blog btw! 🙂
Thank you! It’s something I think just takes lots of Prayer and guidance from the Holy Spirit in regard to its balanced use. God bless!