ODJ: get real
February 20, 2011
Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray (Mark 1:35).
READ: Psalm 84
Slate magazine’s William Saletan indicts our culture stating: “Every time you answer your cell phone in traffic, squander your workday on YouTube, text a colleague during dinner, or turn on the TV to escape your kids, you’re leaving this world. You’re neglecting the people around you, sometimes at the risk of killing them.”
Wow! And he didn’t even mention the addictive nature of online games. Or Internet porn and how it depersonalizes and destroys the sacredness of sex.
We might be tempted to debate Saletan. But rather than getting defensive, it may be wise to take a look at our own priorities. It’s likely we’ll all find something out of whack. I can reach out to the people God places in my path—those who need an encouraging word or who may be hurting and need my listening ear. But instead, I put on the headphones and vanish into iPod world or lose myself in a laptop DVD. I shun human community for the loneliness of something less.
Solitude has its place. Jesus had a habit of slipping away to be alone. But when He did, He found community with His heavenly Father. And then He returned to His ministry to others (Mark 1:35-38).
In the Psalms, we read how the poet yearned for community with God. “I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the Lord,” he wrote (84:2). And he craved the community with others that grows out of unity with the Father. “What joy for those who can live in Your house, always singing Your praises” (v.4).
Perhaps it’s time to exchange our headphones for some bona fide interaction with God and His children. By doing so, we’ll lose the loneliness of the virtual world and find the joy of genuine community. —Tim Gustafson
What do you do for relaxation? How do your times of solitude cause you to ponder God’s character and help you to enjoy the company of others?
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One of my greatest concern about myself is my relationship with people. I hardly make friends. I’m not so “electronics” still it seems this firewall’s around me. Church has only helped matters. Why do you think I could do?