My Smartphone Ate My Prayer Life

Nathan SmithTechnology, Thought Provoking

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Quiet morning. Cup of coffee. Bible in hand and heart yearning for communion with the Lord.  Cat video. Refocused devotional reading. Calendar update. Prayer time…. sports highlight, great deal on Christmas gifts, birthday party invitation, reminder to pick the kids up from school today, you tube sensation, etc….  ‘Quiet time’ over. Time to go to work.  Ever been there?  The smartphone world we live in constantly pulls on us even in our most focused times.  And if we aren’t intentional we will lose ourselves and our sense of quiet and communion with The Lord to this hungry machine.  We don’t have to try to lose it.  It will simply get swallowed alive.  As our time with God is being consumed we wonder why we are more anxious or overwhelmed or tired?  It’s a trap but we don’t have to fall into it.

I’ve traveled a lot this year and as I was sitting on another airplane last night I reflected on how few faces I actually saw in the terminal and on the plane.  Everyone was looking down all the time.  What were they looking at? Their phone. I have joked before that we’re going to have to start learning how to recognize people by the tops of their heads and not by their faces anymore. Now, I’m not anti-technology and I’m not starting an Amish colony anywhere but I do think we must have an honest conversation about how much of our lives and our quiet spaces are being swallowed up by a device in our pockets.  I find it sobering when I consider in scripture how many times we are encouraged to ‘lift our eyes’ or to ‘lift our heads’.  (Click Here To Read My Post ‘I Am A Rock’)

Keep Your Head Up

There are few things more discouraging than seeing people with their heads hanging down all the time.  If it’s a sports team we say they must have given up or surrendered to defeat if their heads are hanging down.  If it’s our children we wonder if something is wrong or if they are dealing with guilt or hurt of some sort when their heads are down.  Today we say we’re being productive, connected and happy if we are hanging our heads as we adore our smartphones.  Are we really?

This Christmas season I’ve been reflecting a lot on the humility of God. He is more humble than I will ever have capacity to understand or appreciate and it flies in the face of our über efficient, connected smart-world.  In modern thinking, the nativity (birth of Jesus) is a PR disaster.  Your goal is to save the world from sin and death? Your objective is to bring hope and life to everyone on the planet?  So you pick a virgin girl and cause a potential scandal?  You only tell a few shepherds that you’ve been born?  You aren’t born to a King in a palace in an important nation? You don’t wait until the internet is invented so you can maximize your reach and go viral with this good news?  Nope.  You’re born on a day that no one took enough notice of to actually make note of (it is very likely that Jesus was not born on Dec 25th or in winter at all! – it’s just when we celebrate it).  You are laid in a feeding trough and are content to grow up in obscurity.  You invest your life into 12 friends and do your best to stay away from the crowds as often as possible.  This is your plan to change the world? Inefficient.  Inopportune.  Insufficiently promoted and improperly hashtagged.  Billions have responded.  His humility and His wisdom are beyond our comprehension. (Click Here to Read My Post ‘Relationships Aren’t Efficient’)

We can think we’re being so productive and responsible by burying our heads into our phones constantly thinking through one more meeting, one more email, one more way to maximize our effectiveness.  I’m not saying any of those things are wrong or bad.  I’m saying they aren’t worth what many of us have been willing to pay.  If it isn’t the altars of efficiency and productivity that we sacrifice our quiet spaces and prayer times on then it’s the even greater altar of entertainment.  We are so consumed with being entertained that we lose our ability to patiently listen to a friend share their story or to quietly sit with the Lord and hear His heart for our family, neighbors or future.  We must look to the Humble King and learn from Him this Christmas. (Click Here To Read My Post ‘Managing Expectations This Christmas’)

Come To The Quiet

Jesus invites us to the quiet.  He invites us to come away form the city streets and the palace fanfare and to join him at a feeding trough (manger) in a cave/stable outside of town.  He’s ok if you don’t maximize your potential and get the gold star for efficiency.  Especially if it will keep you from being able to come and sit with Him.  He’s ok if you’re out of the loop on the coolest new trend or the greatest new whatever on the internet.  Especially if it will keep you from being able to lift your eyes to see His love and goodness.  This Christmas look Him in the face.  Look to The One who chose you when you didn’t choose Him.  Look to the ones He’s given you to love in your family and circle of friends, not just what you can buy them or do for them.  Be with them.  And most importantly, get into that place of prayer and communion with Him without your phone.  (Click Here To Read My Post ‘Save Hundreds This Christmas’)

Smartphones are great tools but don’t let them own you. People think I’m old fashioned because I still prefer to haul around a Bible and notebook everywhere I go.  In all truth, it’s partly because if I use my phone to read scripture I’ll end up buying something on Amazon that I don’t really need instead of connecting with the Lord!  Set yourself up for victory.  Let the only time your head is down be because you’re praying and drawing closer to Jesus.  Then, lift your eyes and share the gift of Jesus in you with everyone you come in contact with.  Your face is so much more encouraging than the top of your head.  (Click Here To Read My Post ‘Mind The Gap’)

From The Bible

Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. – Psalm 34:5 NIV

I lift up my eyes to you, to you who sit enthroned in heaven. – Psalm 123:1 NIV 

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. – Mark 1:35 NIV

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