Pastor's Corner                                               

Listen

    You know who you are!  It is reported that 91% of cell phones are smartphones. It has become a way of life.  Maybe even a “necessity” in life, for whatever that means.  Look at so many people’s back pockets and you can see the imprint…of their cell phone. The cell phone is part of life in the civilized world.  Here are some startling statistics.  The average person checks their phone over 200 times per day, spends four to five hours gazing at their screen, will check their phone within ten minutes after waking up and sadder yet…in an average eight-hour workday, a person will spend at least forty-five minutes of their workday, not break time, but workday on their phone.  And when the phone is forgotten somewhere or missing… the average person will fall into instant panic. 

    Here is another glaringly alarming concern over the cell phone.  Distraction. The use of the cell phone causes such a distraction in someone’s life that people have lost the art of simply “listening.” I’m sorry, what did you say?  Hmmmm. The distraction is great and can one truly listen to anyone, including God, through the distraction? The late Dr. Charles Stanley said in his book “How to Listen to God,” that “God’s voice is still quiet and easily buried under an avalanche of clamor.”

    The apostle John was known as the “beloved disciple.”  By the time he was penning Revelation, all the other apostles had been martyred.  John was alone, exiled to the island of Patmos.  Talking about having no distractions. He could have easily turned to self-pity and just sit waiting to die.  But that was not the case. With no distractions at all, his desire was to listen.  Praise God, that is what he did.  He listened to God and Revelation was given to him.  And because John listened, John heard the voice of our Lord tell him in the introduction of Revelation in Revelation 1:3 “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.”

Here is another finding about the cell phone.  If one totally puts the phone away for 72 hours, stress comes down, focus is increased and real conversation is restored. So, put away “the” distraction and listen.  Read your Bible.  Listen.  And as one of the great apologists of our time, Justin Peters said, “If you want to hear from God, read your Bible.  If  you want to hear God audibly, read your Bible out loud!”

    Put away the distraction.  Have a conversation with God and listen…. For the time IS near!

Blessings to all,

Pastor Paul