We Can Change the Soil

Isn't it just the way scripture said it will be!!?


Today our sermon was about the parable of the sower, and although I'm usually a KJV person, the pastor used the Amplified version for this message and it seems to fit in with todays society....the distractions of the AGE........the Age of technology, for one:

Mark 4:19-
Then the cares and anxieties of the world and distractions of the age, and the pleasure and delight and false glamour and deceitfulness of riches, and the craving and passionate desire for other things creep in and choke and suffocate the Word, and it becomes fruitless.
 The word 'creep' in was key,because many false religions have 'crept' into our very Body and have assimilated, trying to woo away Christ's children and we can NOT be deceived by these false teachings. Another key point was "the distractions of the Age" I immdeiately thought of those compulsive technological people...you know, those who think a cell phone with all the 'aps' is part of the human body!
Nowadays most people simply can't seem to function without their access to Facebook, Twitter, My Space, e-mail, and every kind of "Ap" you can think of.
How do they ever get their work done? I've honestly been with someone who literally sat at lunch and texted for a solid 45 minutes and would speak to me on occasion between sending and receiving!
It's about the RUDEST thing one can do to another person, yet it seems that it's like a huge cancer in our society seeping into the family, the church, work-places, and relationships.
I suppose when you've spent all your life trying to build relationships and bridge broken ones, it just seems that today you're the one 'out-of-place' and if you don't sit there and text to someone else while your lunch companion is texting....you're left alone to be your own entertainment.....that is unless you're highly entertained by watching someone push buttons at lightening speed and before you can say "jack rabbit" they have a response!
Not me.....as you can tell by my blog.....I love to talk! I never liked going to lunch alone.
Oh, back to my story:
It is amazing to me how we are so involved in this love affair with little cell phones that have more applications available to us than we could use in a lifetime. Each time a new idea comes out and becomes available........it doesn't matter the cost-not in money, time, life, or anything else.....we must have it added to our huge repertoire of cell phone junk. We can't sleep at night because our cell immediately advises us that SOMEONE has posted on Face book!
Carry on a complete uninterrupted conversation.....what? Are you JOKING!? (You must be)
Sleep a full night without checking your cell to see if you MISSED something....why the dog- gone thing hasn't signalled in five minutes.....did the Rapture occur and you missed it?
Okay......maybe this message led me to a 'vent' session on my blog......what can I say? I can tell you this: When I worked as a Case Manager (Registered Nurse), I took my "beeper" that's the thing we all had before the i-phones and aps came along....ancient huh?......anyway, I took my beeper on week-ends, vacations, I worked with two nurses talking in my ear, a telephone (you know the kind houses and hospitals use sometimes), two beepers and me on the telephone....ALL at once, trying to communicate with me while the copy machine was letting me know my papers were ready and the fax machine indicated my fax had gone through......and a meeting was being called, patient in room number 205 needed to see me, and, and, and.......and after eight years of Case Management.......I STOPPED taking my 'beeper' everywhere! When my week-end came up, I took my time.......I got back into church and I never looked back!
I got my eyes on Jesus and now I don't even want to carry a cell-let alone five- hundred 'aps'
Life has enough distractions without us adding to them.
We need to do what Pastor John said today......."MAN-UP!" and "WOMAN-UP!", gird up your loins, there is a war going on around you....how will we ever bear Fruit for the Kingdom of God, if we can't get off the phone or away from the games, computers, television, and all the other Distractions of the Age of Technology and the Age of Tolerance, and all that tries to come between us and our Father to take away the joy of knowing Him better? Have all these distractions become a replacement for God's Word? For Prayer time? For worship time? Alone time with God? Are these distractions the IDOLS of the Age?
I enjoyed this message today because I know how badly we need to keep our focus on Him. I am the first to realize how amazing our technologies are today, but do we have to make them such a permanent part of our lives that they seem like they are literally glued to the body?
Victory Prayer:
Father,
Thank You so much for the knowledge given to us by You. I pray that we will always use discernment and wisdom, sprinkled with discretion and common sense when we use this technology. Show us how, Lord, to make our focus stayed on You. Guide us as we develop character and integrity. Show us what distractions we need to remove! Let us remember that You are dwelling within and Your Holy Spirit is our constant companion, and that anything and everything that we place before YOU is an idol! Lord, help us to remember that technology can not replace human contact and value......we never know when our last breath will take place.....so I pray that when someone needs us, we are not put on hold during a text message!