It was about 5:30pm on a Wednesday afternoon and I had just left the office.
My cell phone rang and it was my wife, "Can you stop at the grocery store
and pick up some shredded cheddar cheese for this recipe?” Well on my way home, I was close enough to
change my route and swing by the store.
As I walked into our home, my wife rhetorically asked with a chuckle,
"What did we do before cell phones?" Without missing a beat my 10 year old daughter,
who really wanted to secretly justify her need for her own cell phone asked, “Daddy,
how old were you when you got your first cell phone?” “I believe I was about 27 years old and it
was as big as one of the stone tablets that Moses brought down from Mt. Sinai!” “That stone table, Daddy, was that before
the Ipad?”
With laptops, Ipads, cell phones, Iphones and every other gadget on the
planet; you and I are more connected than ever.
In fact, I wonder if we ever disconnect.
The answer is probably not! In July 2013, the Huffington Post reported
that 61% of employed Americans work while vacationing…that’s 6 out of 10
people.
Truth be told, we are more likely to disconnect from our families and from
God, before we disconnect from our jobs.
Harsh sounding? Perhaps! But let’s
be honest. I see it nearly every
day. Kids in trouble because mom and dad
are always on their cell phones taking another call, on their laptops pounding
out one more report or never at home because there is just one more meeting to
attend, rather than connecting with the kids.
The marriage takes a hit too. We
will talk to our bosses before our spouses.
And what about God, have we disconnected from Him? How
many times has a headache on Sunday kept you from church, but the same headache
did not keep you from work on Monday?
How many times have you come up with some lame excuse to stay home
instead of connecting with the body of Christ and worshipping in one heart and
spirit? How many times have you forsaken
the assembly (see Hebrews 10:25)?
Is that you? Are you more connected
to the job or the activities of the world than you are to God or your
family? Are you proud that you work
through the weekends and vacation to clear a better bottom line?
If so, then you need to refocus on God.
To start, confess your lack of connectivity with Him. Tell him you are sorry and ask Him to empower
you to make better choices to stay connected with Him. Then go to your family and do the same
thing.
Once you have taken that step…learn how to turn off the devices and
disconnect so then you can reconnect with the most important thing.
