Earlier this week my iPhone crashed. These things never happen at an opportune time. With an upcoming deadline, I didn’t have half an afternoon to spend at the Apple Store. No matter. Like an addict in search of a fix, I immediately dropped what I was doing and headed to the Genius Bar.
For reasons I don’t fully understand, I feel disconnected, isolated, and vulnerable without my phone. The irony of it is, I was the last among my friends to get one. I’m not much of a phone talker and I didn’t see the need. In fact, I didn’t even buy my first cell phone. John did. He and I had dated for a couple of years and I think he was tired of leaving messages on my home answering machine. He showed up at my apartment one day with a phone and I’ve been carrying one ever since. Fast-forward eighteen years and now a broken iPhone phone takes priority over everything else on my schedule.
The lines at the Apple store prove I’m not alone in this dilemma. While it’s true people have varied reasons for carrying a phone, we are all wired with a God-given desire to be connected to other people. For most of us, a cell phone is a non-negotiable. As I sat and waited, I couldn’t help but wonder how I came to rely so heavily on my phone. I wondered:
- When is the last time I cleared my mid-week work schedule for an entire afternoon to pray and read the Scriptures?
- When I feel disconnected, isolated, and vulnerable why do I reach for social media and not my Bible?
- Do I want to be habitually distracted by my phone?
- Am I willing to spend a significant portion of my time on this planet staring at a screen?
Don’t get me wrong, I have no plans to give up my iPhone and I’m not suggesting anyone else should either. For better or worse, they are a part of modern-day life. By design, a cell phone is a good thing. But human beings have a long history of taking good things and making them “the ultimate thing.” It’s called idolatry. We rely on other people, places, and things to fill voids only God is capable of filling. My broken phone reminded me of the fact that it needs to spend less time in my hands and more time at the bottom of my purse. Oh, and my phone has this remarkable contraption called an “off button.” I’m going to try it.
After a two-hour wait my phone was fixed. But as I walked to the car I was reminded of the words of the apostle John, “Little children, keep yourself from idols.” (1 John 5:21).
