The rain was falling so hard that, even with the windshield wipers on full power, it was hard to see the road. Each lightning flash would reveal the building in front of me that was hidden in the pitch black darkness. I sat inside my truck thinking how crazy I was to come to church this late at night by myself. Still building up the nerve to go inside, I kept thinking of what could possibly be in the dark halls of the church. For some reason empty churches at night alone, just seem scary, well any building for that matter. Finally I got out of my vehicle and ran through the pouring rain to the door. Unlocking it as quickly as I could, I ran inside and turned off the alarm. Each lightning flash would light up the room, and I could see the shadows of the furniture on the walls. I couldn’t have picked a scarier time to do this. As soon as I could, I switched on the first light and instantly felt a little relief to see no one was in the room with me. But I wasn’t done yet. I still had to go into the sanctuary, where the lights take time to warm up before they come on. There was no time for that, so I was going to have to go through the dark without any light. Finally I got the nerve and ran as fast as I could to the stage, grabbed my cell phone from off the music stand and got out of the church as soon as I finished locking up and resetting the alarm. I was so relieved!
So going back a little, two days prior, I had forgotten my cell phone on my music stand of my church, where I play guitar for worship each Sunday. I had decided I would be fine without it, but realized soon enough I kept catching myself reaching down to my pocket to check my phone. Whether I was looking to see if I had a text or missed phone call, or checking my Facebook, Instagram, snapchat, Twitter, and any other social media accounts I had at the time, I realized I had a bad habit. With social media these days, there are many ways with connecting to people that past generations would never believe existed. And I had no clue how much time I spent on it until I lost connection with the world around me. I gave in. I couldn’t bare to put my hand down to an empty pocket any longer. I had to go get my cell phone. So that’s exactly what I did.
On the way home, from what would have made a perfect horror movie backdrop with all the rain, thunder and lightning, I was dying to see the over 50+ text messages I had gotten and the other social media notifications I hadn’t been able to see. That’s when God spoke to me. “Whenever you lost connection with the world, you realized how much you missed it. Imagine what it’s like when people loose connection from Me.”
I was overwhelmed, and felt guilty at the same time. I’ve got a line directly to God, and I had not been using it near as much as I was using social media. I started thinking about those in this world who are lost. On this earth, they have a Way to call on Jesus Christ, yet they never do. And when it’s too late, there is no driving at night in a storm to find this connection. They would jump at the chance if there was. Those who die without Christ loose the ultimate relationship, and their pain is an eternal emotional pain. I remember realizing how crazy I was to even have this thing in me that was “needing” my cell phone. What had I become? I never noticed it before, but since when did I “need” an item so much that I would go out of my way for it. Since when did my heart and mind long for something so meaningless compared to many other things. I had made an idol out of it, and I didn’t want to admit it, but I had, and I decided I didn’t want that idol anymore. When I got home, I put my phone away for over a week and prayed that God would increase my prayer life. It was a super hard week, but great discipline showed me that I no longer idolized social media over God.
“Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.” – 1 Corinthians 10:14
Sometimes in this world we can have many idols that we would never consider an idol. I remember before that day, I had never thought I put social media before God. But when I had lost it, I realized how much my mind thought about it over my thoughts for God. How often do we place things, hobbies or relationships in life over God and don’t know about it? How can we tell if we have something that might or may become an idol in our life? I have found what works with me is by self-discipline, and the best way is through fasting. Not fasting of food, but of a particular item, activity, or relationship, or whatever I think is something I do in my life quite a bit. Sometimes I will pick something and give it up for a week, and when I do, I realize I had this strange “need” for it that I would have never known I had before. This is easier said than done. I think thats why its called self-discipline… I mean, who easily disciplines themselves?
What do we “need” most? Is there anything we need other than God? Is He all-satisfying to us? Is He enough in every circumstance? When we wake up in the morning, are our first thoughts reserved for Him? How much time do we spend in prayer talking to Him? How much time do we spend reading the Bible, His Love letters to us? An idol is anything that takes more of our life and time over God. It is anything that comes before Him. So let us cast down any idols we have and bow our hearts and knees in Worship to Jesus Christ our Lord, Who is everything we will ever need!
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