Smartphones and Jesus.

Courtesy of WeKnowMemes.com

Whether you like it or not, the invention of the internet has ushered our world into a new era:  the age of information.  It is an age where virtually no question goes unanswered.  We have cell phones that we can hold up to a speaker and an app will tell us the name of the song and who sings it.  Wikipedia, the "Google gods", and Siri are constantly at our fingertips, offering us unlimited knowledge about any subject.  I was talking to my Mom the other day and she was saying that they get a lot of phone calls at her office about various tax vocabulary used in letters they send out.  I responded by asking, "Why wouldn't they just Google it?"  To me, it was a foreign concept to pick up the phone (the house phone, nonetheless) and call an office to ask a simple question - why not just go to your computer and Google it???  Have an intense debate going on about whether or not Sixteen Candles came out in 1984 or 1985?  Grab your phone.  Kevin and I have settled many a disagreement with a quick reference to IMDB or Safari and a self-satisfied smirk.  It's ridiculous, really.

Many people of a different mindset (I will refrain from using ugly words like "old" or "simpler", it's just different) find it absolutely infuriating and I can understand why.  While we now have the answers to "all" our questions, we have lost valuable things like the ability to speak with and relate to other human beings.  We often can't sit down to a family dinner without half the attenders heads being bent over their various devices.  Being a bit of a techno junkie myself, I am quite guilty of this.  "Why can't you just put down the phone and listen?", they ask.  We often don't have a good answer - or at least not one we'll say out loud.  I love my electronics but I have found that holding the "answers" in the palm of my hand isn't as satisfying as it once was.  Why?  Because far too often, we cannot find the real answers to life's questions on Google.  And not having the answers is often very frightening.  Try typing these into Google:

"Why do I feel so alone?"
"Why did my father/mother leave my family?"
"Why was I abused as a child?"
"Why doesn't anyone love me?"

Didn't get very specific answers, did you?

People of my generation flock to websites like Facebook and Pinterest because we have this intense desire to share ourselves with the world around us.  We want to feel relevant and important, like what we think matters.  I totally fall into this category - why else would I have a blog?  But often, these social media outlets fall short of what we really need - true love and acceptance.  So where do we go to find that?

Many of us in ministry find ourselves struggling with this question while facing the identity of the church in today's culture.  Gone are the days of just going to church because that's what everyone did on Sundays.  Gone are the days of unquestioned theology and authority in the church.  Scandals, cover-ups, and dishonesty among prominent Christian leaders rule our headlines.  And what's worse, the rest of the so-called Christian leaders are expected to know all the answers and often pretend (or really think) that they do. The things that "always were" in the past are now forgotten.  Church no longer seems relevant.  "Why would I go to church?  It's full of hypocrites and judgmental people.  They're no better than me." How right they are.  Every single person that sits in any given church on any given Sunday is a hypocrite.  We're all guilty of judging others harshly.  We're all sinners.  But often we forget that we're all sinners and we adopt this holier-than-thou attitude and make pronouncements on other people's hearts, like we're God.  When confronted, we claim that we're just "observing the fruit".  I read something on Pinterest the other day that said "Don't judge someone because they sin differently than you."  It made me think about my own sin.  I've told people before that I struggle with anger and depression only to be met with "Really??  I would've never guessed, you seem so happy."  Well, no, they wouldn't guess these things because I've learned to control it in front of others, people I don't trust to love me unconditionally no matter how I act, and because I know it's wrong to just let my emotions rule my behavior. So I put up the facade.  Sometimes that's a good thing, if I'm having a bad day, it doesn't mean I can just stay in bed with my head under the covers all day, sometimes I have to be a grown up and go out and greet the world with the smile that I've forced onto my face.  Fake it until you make it.  But there are other times that we've convinced ourselves that our facade is the real thing and we use it as a weapon against others.  I love the Casting Crowns song Jesus, Friend of Sinners, not because it's easy to listen to, but because it's so true of me and the way that I often treat others.  I'll share some of the lyrics with you:

Jesus, Friend of sinners
We have strayed so far away
We cut down people in your name,
But the sword was never ours to swing.
Jesus, Friend of sinners,
The truth's become so hard to see
The world is on their way to you,
But they're tripping over me.

Always looking around but never looking up,
I'm so double minded
I'll play God's saint, with dirty hands, and a heart divided.

Oh Jesus, Friend of sinners,
Open our eyes to the world at the end of our pointing fingers.
Let our hearts be led by mercy,
Let us reach with open hearts and open doors.
Oh Jesus, Friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours.

The more I listen to this song, the more convicted I become of how, even unconsciously, I swing the sword at others around me, using Scripture and perceived holiness as a weapon instead of letting it sink into my heart and change me.  I listen to these words often to remind myself to be gracious to others as God has been gracious to me, to let my heart be broken for the hurt in the world that I see, to not judge but to love perfectly as Jesus commanded His followers to do.

In my personal walk with God, I have found far more questions than answers.  But, I have found love and I have found belonging in God and in the body of believers called His church.  Much like Google, I don't have the answers to why you were abused or why someone you love left you.  But unlike Google, I can hug you and cry with you and say I don't know but I'll pray for you and I'll listen to you.  Because sometimes we don't need an answer - we just need to be loved.