Wake Up, Look Up

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hello everybody 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 you down to hang this is

prompted by an article in the Atlantic

pointing to the fact that Americans are

incre recently spending less time

together than ever before and let me

share some stats with you uh in studies

that have looked at our social

interaction going from 2003 to 2022 so

that period of about 19 years running up

to the recent uh past uh what they found

is that almost every demographic

category has seen a remarkable drop in

the time spent in a week interacting

with other people now not work

interaction or school interaction not

forced interaction but volitional social

interaction so in that time period men

for example uh dropped 30% of the amount

of time they were spending hanging out

with each other and you might say well

you know men they get married they have

kids uh they get busy that's why they

don't hang out actually that's not true

because unmarried men in the same time

period dropped

35% so even men that don't have wives

don't have have children don't have

people waiting for them at home are

hanging out less than ever before

teenagers now used to be cliche

teenagers hanging out at the mall or

going out in their cars or teenagers

during that same time period spend

45% less time actually interacting with

other people in social situations which

they choose now we are spending time

with something that of course means our

phones and screens

and are pets during the same time period

interaction with pets doubled people are

spending twice as much time with their

pets actually now in the United States

for a woman for example who has a pet

she on average in a week spends more

time social interacting with that pet

than she does an actual human being now

why is this important well really for

two reasons one is because we've never

been uh more isolated as a culture we've

also never been more anxious more lonely

or more depressed we've covered that at

nauseum here on wake up lookup those

things are connected When God Says in

Genesis that it isn't good for man to be

alone what he's saying is that he

created humans for more than they can do

on their own that there is something

innately human about being a part of

something bigger than ourselves about

realizing that our impact on the world

is meant to be more than we can do

simply on the autopilot rhythm of going

to work and going home and we're missing

that we're we're not having that and as

a result we find ourselves saying what

is life all about does my life have any

meaning and am I happy why am I not

happy we are alienating ourselves from

part of what it means to be human and as

a result becoming increasingly subhuman

which is why we spend our social time

with nonhumans either on a screen or in

our our pets we have to realize that

part of the reason we're unhappy is

because we're missing something that we

were designed to have community and

relationship but of course I'm a pastor

this is a spiritual podcast so the

second reason this matters is because

the Bible is full of one anothering it's

a major theme in the New Testament that

most of what God has for me to do in my

life growing in my understanding of him

growing in my relationship with him

participating in the advancement of his

kingdom growing in my Holiness those are

team sports nearly every time the New

Testament talks about those things it

talks about them in conjunction with my

relationship with other people there's

only there's a limit on how much growth

I can experience spiritually of how

close I can feel to God of of what I can

see happen in my lifetime in his kingdom

on my own we're living in an area era of

social isolation and that means what

what we're show showing up for church

less we're signing up for classes less

going to small groups less spending time

with other Christians less is it any

Wonder we feel not just anxious and

lonely and depressed but we feel

spiritually disconnected from God and

anemic listen here's an immediate

takeaway from this episode you need

friends you need community and I know

that can be hard and I know that can be

awkward and it can feel overwhelming but

if you're part of local church and if

you're not that's your immediate

takeaway here but if you are I guarantee

you they have mechanisms for helping you

connect with other people shoot an email

or a text to your pastor and say hey I'm

alone and I shouldn't be and I need to

get connected and then take a chance to

show up and for those of us that have

Community open a spot in that Community

for one more person and when they take

that brave step of showing up to your

small group of joining your Bible study

of entering into a space where you're

already comfortable help pull them in

you might not you might not only be

advancing your own spiritual life you

might and I I'm not being hyperbolic you

might actually be saving their lives

it's not good for you to be alone so

don't be not for one more minute hey

thanks so much for watching this episode

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