When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, they were all seized with fear, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor. 18 Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed what they had done. 19 A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. 20 In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.21 After all this had happened, Paul decided to go to Jerusalem, passing through Macedonia and Achaia. “After I have been there,” he said, “I must visit Rome also.” 22 He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he stayed in the province of Asia a little longer. Acts 19:17-22
If your church had a revival and they announced, "on the final night we will have a bonfire and we want you to bring whatever is holding you back from wholeheartedly following Jesus and we want you to throw it in the fire", what would you bring? My guess is the Apple Store would be doing a lot of business because everyone would be buying new iPhones the next day. Today the phone is our major detractor from following Jesus. Someone might answer pornography is holding me back - the phone is the facilitator. Someone might say desire for possessions and comfort - Amazon is one click away from fulfilling all our wants and Instagram shows us what we don't have that others do. Someone might say I need to spend more time in prayer and Bible study but I just don't have the time - endless scrolling may be stealing your time or video games which the cellphone is the vector.
As I mentioned earlier, as soon as you threw it in the fire you'd be saying, "What have I done; I need to go buy another!", because the cellphone is also helpful in our spiritual growth. Through it we are enriched, empowered, emoted, educated, edified, encouraged and any other "e" word I can come up with. I blog/journal with it and use the Bible App daily. When my wife can't sleep she turns on the Bible audio. When I'm in the car, fishing, doing yard work, lounging by the pool, Christian music enriches my soul. I listen to sermons and podcasts as I drive and watch apologetic videos on YouTube. I have a kid's playlist of Christian Music for kids that the grandkids know by heart. I've witnessed in other languages with the use of translator apps on my device. What would I do without a cellphone!
My point is, like I did 55 years ago, we need to throw ourselves in the fire. Not literally but we need to say burn away the dross and set me on fire for you. Jesus said, "to the pure all things are pure". In other words, if your eye and desires are evil, the cellphone is going to become a conduit of evil. However, if our eyes are good and our heart is set on Christ, the cellphone is going to be a great help and facilitator of spiritual growth and power. The fire in Ephesus was a great symbol of repentance but like the youth in my church that threw things in the bonfire, many strayed because it's not about things but the heart. We are children of a burning heart. Catch fire!
No comments:
Post a Comment