Tag Archives: time

June 4 – Phones and Ants

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Proverbs 4-6

It’s baseball season. That makes me happy. I love the game. I love watching my nephew play on his traveling team. Watching my great-nephew play t-ball is a blast. And I always have the TV turned to the Cleveland Indians’ game whenever they are playing. What can I say? I’m a fan.

When I am at the ballpark, I’m there to watch the game. But as I look down the row of parents sitting in folding chairs behind the backstop, I am astounded at the number of heads that are bowed, eyes glued to the phones in their hands. Oh, they might look up when their kid is at bat. Well, most of the time.

It amazes me how often a TV camera will span the crowd at a professional ballgame, and you’ll see the same thing. The game is going on, but people are watching their phones. My thought is, stay home! Save yourself a couple hundred dollars and play that game or answer that all-important text while you’re sitting on your couch.

How often have you been driving and had to swerve to get out of the way of someone behind the wheel, eyes down, phone in hand?

I know it’s easy to get caught up in technology. Much of our communication is texting, our connection to the world is the internet. And, let’s face it. Some of those games are fun.

And addictive. A few months back I found myself in the middle of playing several games. I might look at the clock and notice I’d been playing for hours, and I never realized how long I’d been sitting. It came to the point where I deleted all but one game on my phone and iPad. I was beginning to become a sluggard.

Proverbs 6 tells us to learn a lesson from watching an ant. An ant is always working. An ant carries its own weight, and then some.

I feel God is asking us today if we are more like ants, or slugs? Are we missing out on family time (and I don’t mean just our physical presence)? Are we neglecting what God asks us to do? Do we steal away time with God in order to make it to the next level of that game, or to read every FB post, or answer every text about what your friend had for dinner?

Put down the phone. Pick up your kid. Or the Bible. Or the vacuum, the lawnmower, visit your neighbor, or… (you know what God has brought to your mind).

Time is something you will never get back. There are no do-overs. Is what is on your phone really that important?

Hands in the Air!

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I was raised in the era of Green Stamps. If you are a Baby Boomer, you probably remember those stamp books, too. Kids, they were like those points you rack up by shopping at the grocery, or like frequent flier miles. You earned them when you spent money. Then, and this was fun, you poured through their catalog and picked out things you could “buy” when you redeemed your stamps.

Hang on. There’s a point to this.

Time might be one of God’s special blessings. Yet I know I am guilty of squandering it away. I sit in front of the TV, or curled up with a book, or surf the net. None of these are sins necessarily. Unless it is time I could be spending with an unsaved friend talking about my Savior.

Paul tells us, in Colossians 4 to redeem the time. Cash it in. Use it by walking “in wisdom toward those who are outside.”

Time is precious. But it is also fleeting. I might die today. Or I could live a few more decades. The reality is, no matter how many years I spend in this skin, it is a blip in eternity. Whether you believe the earth is thousands or billions of years old, that too, is a blip in eternity.

I like watching cooking and baking competitions on TV. Chefs and bakers can create amazing dishes in a short period of time. And I notice that during the last few seconds of their allotted time the pace quickens, the hands shake, the focus is laser sharp until the host says, “Hands in the air.”

I’ve never seen a competitor surf the net during those last few important seconds.

Dear one, the clock is ticking. We, unlike the TV participants don’t see the clock or hear God counting down the seconds. But rest assured, He is counting. Time will end. We have now to make the best of it, to finish strong, to redeem the time.

Let’s cash in our Green Stamps for the prize set before us. Let’s redeem the time we have today by reaching out to a lost soul in Jesus’ name and for His sake.

Father, may your children be excited about sharing you today. May we use every second you give us in ways that please and honor You. And may a heart be drawn to You because we didn’t waste an opportunity to talk about You, the One who loved us, who gave Himself for us, and who longs to forgive that person you’ve laid on our hearts.