Distractions

Last night, after watching my favorite basketball team take a beating by their biggest rival, I was browsing Facebook to see what all was happening. During basketball games, I turn my phone off to avoid interruptions and people potentially telling me the score of the game that I am watching. I am not like that with many sports, just Duke basketball. I DVR all of the games so I don’t miss any of the action and when I go back to play it, I play it like I was watching it live. 

Then, this morning as I was thinking about how I “go silent” during Duke games, it reminded me of a friends post that was talking about being a “Hands-Free Mama”. Of course, I do not have the book but the caption under the title caught my attention. It said, “A Guide To Putting Down the Phone….”. There was more but that topic stuck out to me. I know a lot of people who are like me and when it comes to sports, they do not answer their phones or even look at them because they do not want to be interrupted. 

Why is it that when we are watching sports games or at other events, we are quick to turn ourselves off from the world? 

How come, when we are at church, we see people on their phones almost all of the service? You can argue that they are on the Bible app following along with the sermon but the truth is when you are on your phone, you open yourself up for distractions. 

Just imagine, you are indulged in a deep sermon on materialism and you are following along on your new iPhone. Suddenly, someone tags you in a Facebook post. You see that notification pop up and then your mind is immediately distracted. You begin to wonder what the post could be about. So, what do you do? You open up Facebook to see what you were tagged in. And from that point on, your worship service has been put on the back burner. 

So, let’s ask again.. Why is it so easy to put down our phones for events but we feel obligated to be on them during worship?

This may come as a surprise to some, especially the younger ones, but they actually still print Bibles and sell them at the majority of local retail outlets. 

Today, I want to challenge each of you to put down your phone during worship. Open up the Bible as we all did 15 years ago. Get you a pen and piece of paper and take notes. Write in your Bible. I can promise you that there will not be any notifications from social media to distract you when God’s word is opened and laying in your lap. 

Are you willing to take the challenge? Share this with your friends and see if they want to take the challenge with you? 

God is Good!