Get Your Head Out Of Your App - Pt. 1 - Disconnect To Connect Series

I. Introduction

When I was younger I used to shake my head in amazement when I thought of the technology advancements my grandmother's witnessed . . . tv, space travel, the changes in transportation. But now I am realizing that in my short time on this planet I too have witnessed incredible shifts and changes in technology. I seen the computer change from monochrome to color. The change from having to know DOS - computer code to an easy interface like Windows. I have seen hard drives go from 20mb, which was considered huge, to having terabytes on board a phone. Room sized computers have shrunk to ipad and iwatch size. The rise of the internet with massive amounts of information at beck and call. Pagers and delayed contact have given way to immediate contact. And myspace has given way to Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. Now each of us averages 2 hours of screen time a day. A little more than a quarter of Americans say they are online “almost constantly.” It has been reported that an average teenager spends 9 hours a day on a social media platform of some sort. You could walk the length of the Great Wall of China 3.5 times with the amount time they are on their phones.

The result of this technology is that the idea of 6 degrees of separation has now decreased to 4 degrees of separation. Technology has caused our world to expand while at the same time it shrinks.

Why is technology so prevalent and important? All of the tech, electronics and app has been and continues to rolled out in the name of and with the promise that we will be more connected.

Why is connection key? We only need to go back to the beginning to discover the answer to that question.

TEXT:

Genesis 2:18 (Message)

God said, “It’s not good for the Man to be alone; I’ll make him a helper, a companion.”

We were created for connection!

You can see it from the beginning. God recognizes that He has created us with a need for connection.

Even though Adam is in paradise - perfect environment, no pain, no problems God realizes that there is lack. He identifies the fact, that paradise isn’t paradise without a partner.

It is innate in us. We can't escape it. It is in our DNA. Connection is at our core. Without connection there is a void and we will naturally best to fill it. And therein lies the problem for most of us and it exhibits itself in our use of technology. We are tying to connect.

But I want us to back up to the account again because after God identifies this need in the heart of man we also see a clue to only real answer to this quest for connection. It is found in . . .

Genesis 3:8-9 (NIV)

Then they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

God created man and woman to connect with each other but there is also in us a need to connect with Him! The greatest fallout of the garden wasn't loss of paradise it was the loss of connection with God! Infraction cost us intimacy. The dues of sin was distance. God had declared everything was good until now. It was not good ... so it is bad for man to be alone!

A gap has been produced and since we are designed for this connection the result is the lack of connection with God tends to lead us down the same slope Eve went down.

Corruption

Eve is alone when she wasn't supposed to be. Her lack of connectedness leads to corruption. Perfection is sacrificed for the promise of knowledge - if we know more we will be closer. I said it like this in the series Decades . . . knowledge can be a false indicator of intimacy.

We have access to more knowledge than we have ever had in our history and yet we seem to further separate ourselves from closeness to our Father! I am not saying knowledge is bad but knowledge is not God! If you know more but know Him less is the knowledge worth it? Eve shows us lack of connection leads to corruption leads to further separation. We should know this because . . .

Isaiah 59:2 says - But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death!