I don't count myself as a particularly tech-saavy person. Occassionally, I can keep up with my father-in-law as he sings the praises of the latest phone applications, but for the most part, I get lost in the constant flux and flow of phones, personal music devices, and various other "toys" that fascinate this information generation. I hail from the time when video games had one directional control and two buttons, you could only find phone privacy as far as the phone cord in the kitchen stretched, and wireless communication was something only those in the military or on Star Trek possessed. In fact, I didn't even own a cell phone until a few years ago. Only recently have I experienced the wonder of owning a phone with a "QWERTYUIOP" keypad. I think I still get outtexted by my niece and nephew.
With this overall lack of technical sophistication, it was with a little apprehension mingled with excitement that I agreed with my wife for the two of us to purchase an iPod for our oldest daughter this year. It wasn't that I wasn't excited about her having a device that could download a multitude of songs that she could have available at the touch of a button. No, my apprehension had more to do with the fact that I would not know how to get that multitude of songs onto the iPod, get them to play, and make sure they stayed there. Thankfully, as many younger ones seem to do these days, my daughter seems to have mastered the basics of the iPod. She reminds us when it needs to be charged and it has become her constant companion on our morning commute to school. My wife helped her pick out songs from iTunes, and they run the gambit from Relient K to Miley Cyrus.
It was during one of our morning runs through the countryside that I heard and saw something interesting last week. My daughter asked me if I could turn down the van radio so she and her brother could better hear the particular song they were listening to on her iPod. I obliged her, and when I glanced back, I noticed each of them with one of the ear buds in an ear, moving along to the music. Immediately, the Holy Spirit quickened me with these thoughts: "Right now, they are sharing the same tune. They are in tune with one another. How well are you in tune with Me?"
That is my question for today: How in tune am I with God? Am I on the same wavelength as Him? Am I moving as He moves, seeing what He sees, being broken for that which He was broken? Or am I listening with half an ear to His plan and half an ear to my own plans, my own schemes, my own ways of how it "should" be done? Are there times when I don't even have the ear buds in and I'm completely tuned in to the song of the world around me, "joyfully and ignorantly" oblivious to what He is doing? In Revelation 3, we see Christ speaking through John the Revelator concerning the church at Sardis. Some very key things are noteworthy in verses 1 - 3(AMP) : 1. Jesus knew their record and what they were supposed to be doing, 2. They were supposed to be alive, but in reality were dead, 3. Jesus tells them to "Rouse yourselves and keep awake, and strengthen and invigorate what remains and is on the point of dying; for I have not found a thing that you have done [any work of yours] meeting the requirements of My God or perfect in His sight."(v.2), 4.(and this is very key) They were to remember the lessons they had received and heard and to continually lay them to heart and obey them, and repent (v.3)
Now for the application: Jesus knows what we are doing, and what we should be doing, for His kingdom. I was reminded of this again when I heard a pastor on the radio this afternoon expositing on the story of Jesus and the woman at the well. While the disciples were trying to get Jesus to eat some food, He was telling them His food was to fulfull the will of the One who sent Him and telling them to look on the fields for they were white with harvest. This was occuring as the Samaritans who had heard the report of the woman were flocking to the well to see Messiah for themselves. How often do I stand, food bag in hand, saying "Lord, look what I've done for you" and don't consider the "true food" He's trying to show me, the true task at hand? How many people today have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof, thinking they are alive when in fact they are dead, their flame going out like the flame in the temple, their ears like those of Eli as he failed to hear the voice Samuel was hearing? Do we so easily fall into the death of our trespasses and sins again? Do we gorge ourselves to death on the food of our will and not the One who sends us? Do we grow fat on the lessons we have heard, but fail to lay them to heart continually, obey them, and repent?
I believe Christ's words for the church of Sardis are just as true for us as believers today. Psalm 84:5 (AMP) says "Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man whose strength is in You, in whose heart are the highways to Zion." How do we know these highways? Not from TomTom, but from HimHim, by listening to His voice, spending time in His Word, dining on the rich meat of doing the will of the One Who sends us. One of my favorite old hymns has this chorus:
"Jesus, hold my hand
I need Thee every hour.
Through this pilgrim land
Protect me by thy pow'r.
Hear my feeble plea
Oh Lord, look down on me.
When I kneel in prayer,
I hope to meet you there
Precious Jesus, hold my hand."
May we walk in tune with Him. That way we stay sharp, we're never flat, and serving Him becomes more natural.
Let's pray. Lord, I lose count of how many times I've been out of tune with you. Like Peter and so many others, I try to tell You the business of the kingdom, how it's going to go down on any given day, as if You need my advice. Thank You for Your patience with me. You keep me close to You despite my shortcomings and my failures. Thank You for still desiring for me to play a part in what You have planned for this generation. Please help me to quiet the distractions of this world and my own stubbornness, pride, fears, and desires and to hear what Your Spirit says each and every day. Let me not hold tight to what I think is the food bag, when the real food is right in front of me. May I be about your business every way and in all ways in these days. I love You and want to please You. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen. Stay tuned!
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