So, how do we simplify our
lifestyles, exchanging extreme levels of busyness that can be easily defended
and justified as the way we’re doing our part to expand the kingdom of God? First off, I think we need to take off our
shoes, so to speak and to get back to the original image. We need to slow down and think about what
really matters in our lives. How many
old people on their death beds lament that they wish they had just spent more time
at work and been busier over the course of their younger years? I have yet to hear of a single old person
making that complaint on their death bed.
Contrast that with what is always heartbreaking to hear and I truly
never want to be a first-hand witness to.
Old people on their death beds are more likely to lament the fact that
they didn’t spend more time with their families and friends, right?
Perhaps when my generation comes
to our death beds, we will lament over the fact that we spent so much time
hooked on our individual entertainment technologies for both personal use and
professional work lives that we neglected to connect on the most basic human
element, relationally. We exchanged
physical proximity and the messiness of actual human interaction for the much
less satisfying but far safer worlds of Facebook and Twitter. My mom has expressed concern about whether or
not younger and younger generations will be able to hold an actual conversation
in real life eventually if we continue down this road. It already permeates our everyday vernacular,
right? Omg, idk, lol are used in
everyday conversation when we’re having an actual conversation and not just an
online one.
I remember my campus minister
expressing concern my junior or senior year of college when a student informed
him that they had a complete conversation with a person in the same exact room
only didn’t actually use audible words but rather spoke on one of the earlier
versions of chat. I can still remember a
high school friend getting dumped after a 2 year relationship over ICQ, a chat
program that was around when I was in high school. In my own life to use another example, I went
on a couple of dates with a girl only to be told in a long email the reasons
why she felt the Lord was just leading her down a different path. Apparently this was too difficult to express
in person or at least even a phone call.
We have come to a place where we
choose to deal with difficulties in relationships in the most impersonal of
ways possible. I still remember almost
losing a deep friendship over an argument that ensued over a facebook
chat. Not to mention the vitriolic and
hate-filled rhetoric thrown around out there from the safety of our own homes,
right? As a result, our whole culture is
changing, some would say for the worst.
I know for myself I went through a fairly difficult time post college
with meeting people my own age. Everyone
was just content to stay in touch via email instead of actually meeting people
in person, face to face. I’m a fairly
people oriented person, so I’ve really struggled with this modern day reality
to say the least.
A simple life is one that is not
easily attained and must be fought for with all of us. If God chooses to speak to us in the silence
or the reading of His Word, then we need to carve out times where this is
possible. If we are constantly busy,
perhaps not said out loud but lived as if it were believed, to the point of
being too busy for God, then we have a serious problem on our hands. Does anyone else see a problem with that?
How do we take off our shoes and
replace them and everything they stand for going barefoot more often? It has to be a conscious decision. We have to admit where we have been too busy
for God and repent from it. It doesn’t
stop there though. Just as in every
believer’s life, repentance is an ongoing act.
We need to not grow weary of turning from our complicated and busy lives
in order to listen to God and spend time in prayer with Him.
Technology isn’t all evil as I’ve
tried to express several times. Neither
is it all good though. It is simply a
tool in the hands of mankind and it depends on how it’s used as to whether it
will enhance our own lives as well as the lives of others. For instance, 3D printing is a relatively new
development that has made huge strides in an insanely short period of
time. Just this past week, I read two
different articles displaying the incredible potential of this new technology. In the case of NASA, they made a prototype of
a rocket engine part that actually worked.
Not only this, but it was completed in less than 4 months as compared to
the usual year or longer that it usually takes.
It also was produced at a cost of 30% of the original price.
Later that week, I read of how a
student in college had made the majority of an AR 15 semiautomatic rifle. Not only that, but he had published the
design for free to anyone who knows how to download it and has access to a 3D
printer. The author argued that people
don’t need to worry about it nearly as much as they had already started
to. He assured his readers that the
parts needed, particularly the receiver, were such that they necessitated a
metal base to be used in their making.
However, as I already implied but didn’t state outright, NASA used 3D
printing to make a rocket engine part, and the only way they were able to do
that was because they were able to use an advanced laser and basically smelt
metallic particles together to shape the piece.
It’s only a matter of time before that level of technology is available
to the masses; not just 3D printers but also the availability to produce
metallic parts and as many AR 15 guns as anyone could possibly imagine.
In light of these new
technologies and their incredible potential to bring about good as well as
evil, I would say we need to make the effort to live barefoot lives now more
than ever. When are we going to get off
the proverbial hamster wheel and take time to once again enjoy the sand between
our toes? When will we take the time to
actually breathe deeply of creation and acknowledge the Creator as a direct
result?
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