Wake Up, Look Up

hello everyone thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach wck

and in today's episode we're asking the

question are we leaking life this is

brought on by an opinion piece I read

this week by George Will on The Perils

of a screen obsessed Society that's

right we're talking about cell phones

again and that's because they're so much

to learn about the way our phones are

shaping us uh George Will is talking

about how more and more of our time is

spent looking at a screen and it it's

not just the screen it's that our phones

are designed to keep our attention all

the time so the the content that we're

consuming is getting shorter and quicker

it's also getting simpler and less

nuanced more polarized and as a result a

couple of things are happening in our

society a society of looking at your

phone people is one that for example is

less and less relationally engaged we're

all getting a little worse at our

ability to actually talk to people to

look them in their eyes and to actually

speak with someone in a meaningful way I

I see this especially in my kid kids I

have to really push them and challenge

them to look someone in their eyes to

speak clearly to ask questions to be

curious about people it's just a muscle

we're not developing but our attention

spans are also getting shorter because

Instagram Facebook Tik Tok Etc they

spend Millions if not billions of

dollars creating very short attention

spans in us that they can move us from

one video to the next one meme to the

next one pithy saying to the next and so

what happens is our brains are getting

wired that we give things about 30

seconds maybe a minute before we decide

if we're swiping on to the next thing or

if we're going to stay engaged the

problem is that's not how conversation

Works meeting new people is awkward it

it involves about 10 minutes at least of

fumbling around through small talk

before we find something of mutual

interest if our brains are hardwired to

disconnect after 30 seconds of boredom

we're going to have a hard time of

connecting with anyone we're going to

feel like uh other people just aren't

interesting but it's actually us that's

the problem even more concerning though

is Mr will is arguing that in a culture

of short attention spans and increasing

boredom our inability to wrestle with

deep nuanced difficult subjects is going

to cost us it's going to cost us in

government it's going to cost us in

business it's going to cost us in family

we're losing the ability to actually

problem solve we're just developing the

ability to swipe left or swipe right but

this world has serious problems your

marriage has serious difficulties

raising kids is complicated you can't

swipe right you can't swipe left you

have to get down roll up your sleeves

and get to work but increasingly that's

becoming hard for us listen I really

believe that either and I know this is

going to be hard when I say it but

either your phone or the Holy Spirit are

shaping you the two are mutually

exclusive I don't mean that if you want

to grow in your faith you can't have a

SmartPhone I have a SmartPhone I just

mean that if you're not paying attention

your smartphone is what is forming you

listen anytime we depart from God's

Design This is what the book of Romans

tells us in Romans 1 and 2 we we wither

we become less than human we become

disconnected from God that's why Paul

tells us in Romans 12 we need to be

transformed by the renewing of our mind

whatever Renewing Your Mind means it

means intentionality it means making

decisions that lead to growth and not

making decisions that lead to the

opposite it means saying here are the

ways my phone is good here are the ways

it is bad after all one of the fruits of

the spirit is patience but your phone

isn't forming patience in you it's

actually forming the opposite you think

of God in Psalm 46 when he says be still

and know that I am God whatever he means

there it probably involves some silence

it may even involve some boredom so how

do you live the reality of Psalm 46 be

still and know that I'm God if you're if

you're incapable of being still well

then maybe you never really get that

experience of God so the Bible is

calling us to actually believe that God

wants Community with us it's calling us

to intentional thoughtful moments where

we clear our minds we clear our

calendars we clear our eyes we put down

our phone and we hear from God we're

shaped by God we spend time with the

people of God phones are not the problem

I am the problem but in the same way

that people who have problems with

alcohol or gambling or money need to

build structure in their lives

to prevent them from becoming the worst

version of themselves you and I need the

same thing maybe the most holy thing you

can do today is when you get home put

your phone in a drawer and ask God to

change you back into someone who can be

still and who hopefully gets to know him

hey thanks so much for watching this

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