Today, everywhere you look, you see people walking around with their heads bowed, but they are not praying, they are on their smartphone texting, Facebooking or searching for something on the internet. You can visit your favorite restaurant, and you will see entire families engaged in silent communication, but not with each other. In fact, it's hard to get someone to listen to you or carry on a conversation without looking down at their phone to receive or send a text. Now, first of all, I am not saying that it's sinful to own a smartphone, but what we must be so careful of, is this infatuation with our smartphone spilling over into our "time apart" with the Lord. This is where being hooked to a smartphone could be harmful to your walk with God. We've got to have the discipline to put that thing down for a couple of hours, (especially on Sunday in church), without constantly picking it up to see if someone is texting us. Our worship and devotions before God need to be free and without the interruptions and buzz of incoming text messages or Facebook notifications. Next time you go to church, look around you and see how many people are looking at their Droid or I-Phone during the service. You might say, that's harmless they might have things they need to check on. Really? Your thoughts have just been diverted from "attending upon the Lord without distraction." It's easy to notice how many people take out their phones right after the preacher says "Amen." When you do so, you just turned your thoughts away from the message of Christ; you just made your heart and mind like the "wayside" in which the birds of air, (the devil's agents), come and gather up that "good seed" which was sown in your heart. We MUST NOT turn our thoughts so quickly from that which we have heard from the Word. Do you remember from Genesis 15, when Abram was commanded by God to prepare a sacrifice of divided animals, along with the undivided birds to ratify His covenant with Abram? Once the sacrifice was prepared for God, Abram sat by the sacrifice to protect it, and to wait upon God. Abram kept the vultures from landing on it and ruining what he had prepared for the LORD. Genesis 15:11 says, " he drove them away." Abram would not allow his sacrifice for the LORD to be ruined, and neither should we allow our spiritual sacrifices (our own hearts) which we have prepared for the Lord to be ruined. Abram sat still before the LORD and vigilantly waited for the LORD to speak to him. If we can't put down the smart phone for a couple of hours on the Lord's Day; if we have to be looking to see if we've received a text, (or if we have to send one right in the middle of service), than we are allowing the vultures to land on and ruin our spiritual devotions to the Lord. When we do this, we are saying that our texts are more important than sitting at the feet of Christ to hear His Word. We need to drive these vultures away from our devotions. Don't allow yourself to be distracted from hearing God speak. When you enter into the house of God, TURN OFF your smartphone. We laud ourselves for being able to do multiple things at one time, but our spiritual work is not to be mixed with thoughts of other things, don't allow yourself to be distracted in your worship and devotions to the Lord. Fix your heart and mind toward that ONE THING that is NEEDFUL!~ James Downing
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