Ceaseless Pursuit

"Hmm, even you are among the 'tribe with their heads lowered'?"  My mother remarked somewhat indignantly in Chinese after I casually pulled out my smartphone to check the latest basketball scores while waiting for our food at the restaurant.  I quickly took a glance around, and indeed, my wife and kids were all gazing intently on their phones as well.  My mother happened to not have a smartphone, and when she made the remark, I wasn't sure whether she was upset about our phone use, or that she wished to also have one herself.  I put my phone away and managed to keep it in my pocket through the rest of dinner; however, there wasn't a whole lot of conversation with all those heads lowered.

Our seeming dependence on these phones have become so prevalent that I've heard several versions of a tasteless joke that involves a person who has a phone surgically implanted on his or her hand.  Our phones wake us up with various ringtones, buzzes and pings during the night, and it occupies our attention throughout the day, whether we are in the toilet, in the car, at work, at school, and unfortunately, even at church.  We have become so dependent on our phones, that temporarily removing our children's phones as a discipline measure is now considered cruel and unusual punishment for some.  Our chats, status updates, tweets, posts, selfies and shared photographs of that incredible lobster dinner or chocolate cake are the fruit of our worldly desires, and we crave their transient pleasures that unfortunately do not satisfy.

Although smartphones did not exist when the books of the Bible were written, and our forefathers were not aware of the kind of hold that such devices have on our lives, there are numerous biblical references to things that we ought to be utterly dependent upon, which are worthy of ceaseless pursuit.

Jesus commanded,

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  (Matthew 6:33)

The apostle Paul wrote,

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.  (Philippians 4:4)

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  (Colossians 3:16)

pray without ceasing, (1 Thessalonians 5:17)

So, we need to seek the kingdom of God and pursue righteousness before all else, rejoice unconditionally, have God's word infiltrate every fiber of our being, and pray always.  That takes a lot of time...all of our time.

We ought to resist checking our phones in bed and the first thing when we arise, when we sit around or walk (or drive), and literally having them stuck to our bodies.  Only then will we have room in our hearts to observe the greatest of all commandments,

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  (Deuteronomy 6:5)

Not just some of the time...ALL the time, and EVERYWHERE:

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:7-9)

It's like having God's living word surgically attached to our bodies.