James 1:19-27
(Use the link below to read the verses.)
Think
about how many different ways you use your smart phone. Most likely talking is
only a small percentage. There’s social media, taking pictures/selfies, your
calendar,
paying your bills, storing your airline boarding pass, texting,
checking your email, checking the weather, checking Google... You get the idea.
For
many people, their smart phone is their brain. Without it, they would be lost.
With it, they are in constant contact with everything and everyone that is
important to them. Your smart phone makes your life more convenient and
efficient. But, and you knew that was coming, can it do this? Can it reflect on
who you are?
This
past Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, was the beginning of Lent. Lent
is a time of
repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter. It
is a period of forty days, not counting Sundays, set aside for self-examination
and reflection.
James wrote about the importance of not just reflecting
on God’s Word, but being transformed by it.
22-24 Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when
you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear
and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two
minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like. MSG
If
there is anything that is antithetical to the norm of our culture, it is reflection.
Just try it. It feels impossible sometimes to slow down the pace of life; to
cut back on activity; to turn the TV, the radio or the smart phone off. In a
word, to be quiet.
During
Lent, many people have the tradition of giving up something, or even fasting. What’s
important is not what you are fasting from, or giving up, but that you take
this season of Lent as an opportunity to reflect. Reflect on who you are? Whose
you are? And whom do you serve?
(If
God has spoken to you through this devotional, please feel free to share it
with others.)
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