Wake Up, Look Up

Hello, everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, are we all just addicts? Now this is prompted by an article I read on CNN's website about a, device called the BR. And it's something you use on your phone. You brick your phone and what that means. It's a physical device that you attach to your phone that locks selected apps, meaning it'll lock you out of Instagram or Netflix or whatever app is causing you to spend so much time on your phone. What it promises is kind of a forced accountability that will get you off of your phone and to, rate its effectiveness. Eleven staff members at CNN used it, and then they wrote about their experience. What was interesting is while using the brick, no surprise, their screen time dropped significantly, with some of them cutting daily usage from nearly seven hours to four hours. Now, four hours is still a lot, but that's almost a 50% reduction. What was also interesting is that here's what they cited as the result of this experience. They said they slept better, they got more reading done, they increased their productivity and heightened their awareness of their dependency on the phone. In other words, and I want you to hear this, only by stepping away from their phones did they begin to realize how dependent they'd become on their phones. Now, I've said this before, and I've done episodes on this before, but I'm just gonna keep doing it. When the Bible talks about phones fasting, about intentionally abstaining from something in order to focus on Christ, I think it in modern times, that is much more about your phone than it is about food. I don't mean it can't be about food. Not eating for an extended period of time will cause you to focus on God. Your dependence on him, to be humbled, to be reminded of who you are. But I got to tell you, your phone is far more spiritually dangerous than a cheeseburger in 2026. That's because our phones are occupying so much of our hearts and minds, shaping the way we think and see and move in the world in such a way that abstaining from it might just be the only thing that allows us to think about God. When I read this article, and you should read it, look it up on CNN's website, I thought of what the Apostle Paul said in First Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 12, when he says, I will not be mastered by anything. What Paul is saying is, I have a master Jesus, and he loves me, and he's the only one I'm gonna surrender and submit to, because anything else that asks for my surrender and submission is ultimately not for my good and friends. That is what our phones are designed to do. Billions of dollars are being poured into those devices to occupy as much of and interest as it possibly can. Just consider this seven hours a day or four hours a day of phone use. Apply that to anything else. Like if I told you, hey, I love to play golf, and you said, well, how often do you play? And I said, four hours a day. Would that sound healthy to you? If I said, oh, I love to read. And you said, well, Zach, you have five kids and a wife and a job. How much time can you find to read? And I said, I don't know, just about four hours a day. Can you imagine watching four hours of television I a day? The point is, we have justified a certain, kind of habit with our phones that we wouldn't justify for anything else. You know why? We're slaves. That's why we're enslaved to our phones. And I'm not saying you got to go out and buy the brick. They didn't pay for this episode, and I don't know anything. I wouldn't know the brick if I saw it. I'm just saying, could you just try putting down your phone? Like, just for 72 hours, go without your phone, or when you get home, when you get home, just put your phone in a drawer, turn it off, put it in a drawer, and don't go back to it until you do. And this is really the point I'm making. Until you do, you'll never know how much you need to. Until you do, you will never know how much you need to. It's so interesting to read this article and read the CNN staffers talk about how they did not realize how much of their heart and mind was occupied by. By the phone until they didn't have it. And, friends, that's going to be our experience as well. Paul said, I will not be mastered by anything. And of course, he meant not by food, not by alcohol, not by drugs, not by pornography, not by greed, and not by Apple or Google or anyone else putting a device in your hand. Consider that you will not realize how enslaved you are to your phone until you set it down. And even as you listen to this, if you're getting mad at me or frustrated, you're thinking, well, I just can't. That is how a slave talks, it's too late. You and I have already been mastered. Set yourself free today and ask Jesus to step into that newfound space and so that you could be filled not with apps, but with the spirit of God. Hey, thanks for watching this episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at wakeup@ccchapel.com!