The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to naught, He maketh the devices of the people of none effect. Psalm 33:10
Two of the world’s largest automakers, Honda and Toyota, have developed humanoid robots with amazing capabilities; it wants little imagination to see these fantastic machines capable of actually driving one of the cars off the assembly line of their creators. Other companies are undoubtedly also creating similarly wonderful gadgets. Speaking of gadgets, there are many web sites where you can go to check out and purchase the latest electronic trinkets and ‘necessities’. There has never been a time when the devices of the world have been so many and so varied and so appealing. Many Christians own many of these devices, a few of them have been known to play a tune during the middle of a worship meeting! (Blush!)
It is comforting to know that there will be no cellphones or iPads in Heaven; our eternal dwelling has no need of what we understand as electronics. But sometimes it is nice to be without a few of those things here. I am not a Luddite, I own, appreciate, and enjoy many of these devices, and I find them fascinating. I would love to have even more of them to play with. But one of the severe problems of many devices is their intrusion into the Christian’s essential area of meditation on Christ. We don’t tune the world and its devices off long enough to allow our thoughts to centre on our Saviour. Devices so assail our eyes and eardrums that we don’t see Him. They also prevent us from seeing enough of other people, whether it be the Lord’s people who deserve our time and consideration, or whether it be the unsaved around us who need to see and hear our testimony, or whether it be the needy in our communities who should be receiving more of our help and our compassion. All because we can’t lift our eyes from the screens of our devices that consume our attention every waking hour.
For just a little while today, turn off your devices. You will find that God is even closer than those pervasive devices could ever be. Enjoy Him. -Jim MacIntosh