Phone Challenge

"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, 

whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, 

whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence 

and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." 

Philippians 4:8

I love to tell the stories to my children of me, sitting in front of the television with my hand on the knob, turning the stations every time my father said, "Next."  I can see the look in their eyes as the reality sets in that I, their mother, was the first television remote my family owned.  

Or the stories of driving all over town - to school, to the grocery store, to the gas station, to church - even across country - without a…wait for it…phone.  Wow.  How did we ever survive?  

But times change and because of that technology has greatly improved our lives.  Enter the lifeline of the modern phone.  It not only allows you to talk to someone, but you can text them, Skype with them, check your FaceBook, tweet a snarky comment, video a cop beating up a civilian, get directions, check the weather, surf the web and oh, yes, let's not forget play Words with Friends till the cows come home.  And all this is made possible by a thin cord we call the battery charger.

Yes, without the battery charger, life as we know it comes to a halt.  For some reason in our house, for every phone we own, we have about 5 charging cords - one for our car, one for the wall, one for the computer, and two because someone in the house is inevitably going to steal the one plugged into your computer and the wall charger.  

So the key to using this phenomenal, life-changing technology of the phone is keeping the phone charged.  Why?, you ask.  Because without power, the phone is dead.  It is useless and suddenly you become void of contact with the world. Simple things like knowing what time it is suddenly become a black hole of lost information.  How can anyone be expected to be on time without a phone? So every night, before you go to bed, you religiously plug in the phone, so that you can have enough power to make it through the next day.  You might even plug it in for a little extra umph here and there, to guarantee you survive while on the go.

Okay, let's switch gears.  What empowers your walk with Christ? Believe it or not, it's time in the Word.  Let me explain how that works.  As a child of God, we have the Holy Spirit who indwells us, convicts us, leads us, brings our prayers to God and even produces fruit in us when we are walking in obedience to the Word.  So time in the Word is that time where we are seeking the things of the Lord, we are striving to see Him more clearly and the Spirit uses that time to grow us in Christ.  When we neglect the Word, we limit the resources that the Spirit will use to sanctify us.  Don't get me wrong - the Spirit is never truly "limited" but He also doesn't magically make us like Christ when we ignore spiritual disciplines - He works through those disciplines. 

Our verse above talks about dwelling on whatever is pure, lovely, honorable, right and excellent.  All those things are found in the Word and "dwelling" in the Word means it's where your mind lives.  If you start your day in the Word, your mind will think all day on these things because the Spirit will use that scripture to enlighten you throughout the day.  It is a power source to get you through the day.  If you read romance or mystery novels, then your mind is going to be bent in that direction as you go throughout the day.  If you start your day with Sports Center or arguing with your spouse, or if you fill your mind with to-do lists and worries, then all day long your thoughts will be used up by worldly concerns.

As followers of Christ, we are called to set our minds on Him. Do it the first thing when you wake up so that you are headed in the right direction for the day or do it as you close out your day, to have that time with your Savior.  The problem is that few of us actually do this and we wonder why we struggle day after day.  Could it be that our battery is low?  Could it be that we are not taking the time to recharge in the Word?  We would not go a day without charging our phone battery but will go day after day, week after week, month after month with only a Sunday morning service to charge our batteries.  Isn't there something wrong with this picture?

So here is my Phone Challenge.  Each night when you plug in that phone to charge, grab your Bible and start reading it.  Or when you unplug it each morning, stop and take some time in the Word.  Read through the life of Christ in the gospels, or through the creation of the world in Genesis, check out the Psalms or soak up some great doctrine in the epistles - whatever you choose to do, search the scriptures to see Jesus more clearly.  Look for the heart and character of God.  Let the charger cord be the reminder to you that you need to recharge spiritually as well, and see how this transforms your life.

Remember, you wouldn't go a day with out charging your phone.  Isn't your walk with Christ more important?