As advanced as our world has become with all of its technology and innovation it seems that people are busier today than they have ever been before. The advancements of technology would have us to believe that we are creating more time to do the things that are most important, but what seems to be more true is that this same technology has taken away the quality time that those who were born in the 70s and before can clearly remember. As someone who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s I remember a simpler time when friends would walk home together from school laughing, telling stories and enjoying each other’s company. I remember playing outside with my friends and neighbors and being together until it was time to get back into the house. Today everybody is on social media looking at each other’s statuses and pictures, commenting and liking, but not really investing quality time into the lives of those who mean the most to them. That is why I reminisce on the “old days” and think back fondly on the “simpler times” because as a kid growing up during that time I would not have traded a single moment of it for anything that today has to offer. (Psalm 90:12) (Psalm 89:47)

That is why I believe we should take a step back from all the technology and all the smart devices that are at our fingertips and go back to something called a one on one conversation. That is when we look someone else in the eye and talk to them. That is when we tell each other how grateful we are to have them in our life and how enriched we are to have them on our side encouraging us, loving us and being there for us when we needed them the most. The Bible declares in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up…” Let us log off of the devices that have so many of us bound and take the time to write a letter, make a phone call or visit that friend or family member that we have been neglecting to spend time with. The sooner that we recognize our relationships are the most important thing in our life the quicker we will be in rejuvenating and reconnecting with those who truly enrich our life and make us better than we were before. (Romans 12:9-13) (Hebrews 10:24-25)

I encourage you to take this message to heart and do what you have been meaning to do for so long, but have not done it yet. Don’t wait for next week or next month because it may never come. Wishful thinking isn’t a plan of action. We have to do and not just wish or hope to get around to doing that thing. When we make up our minds and make an extra effort to reconnect with those who mean so much to us, our life and their life will become elevated and blessed because bonds of love can never be broken and the time shared giving and receiving our love and blessings will live on in our hearts and their hearts just the same. (James 4:13-14)

I hope this message inspires and challenges your heart to go back to the simpler days where spending time together was truly the greatest way to spend our time.


THREE CELL PHONES

I saw something that both amused me and saddened me the other day. Three teenage girls were walking up the street together, but they didn’t seem together at all. Even though they walked side by side, they weren’t talking to each other. They weren’t laughing together. They weren’t even looking at each other. Instead each girl’s eyes rested firmly on their hands outstretched in front of them because in each girl’s palm was a cell phone. I am not sure why they weren’t talking to each other. Perhaps they were. With today’s technology it is hard to tell. Still, it made me shake my head to think that something as small as a cell phone could put so much distance between girls who were so close together. 

Since the beginning of time ideas and inventions have flowed from the mind of God to the minds of people. Since the beginning of time too, however, people have used these ideas and inventions to both help and hurt themselves. The person who first cast metal saw their idea turned into plowshares that helped feed thousands and swords that killed thousands more. Nobel saw his invention of dynamite used to blow apart mountains, to build roads for the benefit of everyone. He also saw it used to blow apart bodies and end countless lives in war. Albert Einstein saw the fruit of his genius used to create abundant power that helps millions of people every day. He saw as well it used to build bombs that could kill us all a hundred times over. 

Every invention and every piece of technology can be used to help us grow better and closer together or it can be used to distance us and destroy us. The choice is in how we use it. The key I feel is love. God’s greatest wish is for us to love each other. I hope you make all of your calls and e-mails joyous gifts of love then. But if there is someone right beside you who needs your love don’t be afraid to turn off the electronics, look them in the eye, and give them a hug. 

By Joseph J. Mazzella


Read and meditate on these scriptures:

1 John 4:7-11 “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”

Proverbs 16:18-20 “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good: and whoso trusteth in the LORD, happy is he.”

Philippians 4:8-9 “Finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”

All of these scriptures can be found in the King James Version Bible.


Today's Selected Poem: THE PROMISE
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/inpoem182.htm

Today's Selected Testimony: GOD WILL NEVER LEAVE OUR SIDE
Click here to read --- http://www.Godswork.org/testimony52.htm


In Christ’s Service,

Dwayne Savaya
God’s Work Ministry