One of the funniest things on the planet was when I used to say something super Internetty-savvy and ultra-cool to my then teenage kids. I’d be all hashtaggy and super-swaggy until they would cancel all their social media accounts and pack their bags like they were moving in with the neighbors.
The techy-like conversations still happen these days but they’re kind of different. I was talking to a teenager the other day and told her we used to have to take our pictures on cameras that didn’t even make phone calls. I told her they had film inside and described how we had to take the film and get it developed. I explained how we couldn’t see our selfies for the several days it took for them to be processed. I was just about to tell her that, even then, instead of posting the pictures, we had to put them in an album that usually only family would see. But before I could tell her that part, I noticed she was pale and I might’ve seen her gag a little. Woah. If I had told her I once had a VCR the size of a footlocker I might’ve had to do some CPR.
We got on the subject of technology in the first place because I’d noticed that we seem to have an entirely different kind of greeting when we’re invited into someone’s home anymore. It goes something like this:
Host: Welcome to my home. I’m so glad you’re….”
Guest: “Yeah hey, wifi password?”
Sometimes that feeling that we need to be connected to whatever is happening somewhere else is so distracting. We can hardly put down our phones without feeling disconnected and thinking things like, “What if I’m missing big news?” “What if I miss a call?” “What if someone posts another really cute picture of a hedgehog?”
Granted, those hedgehogs are super cute. But as believers we have a divine and oh so vital connection. We have the Holy Spirit of God. And failing to realize that connection? It’s like missing a call. Only closer to missing His call.
Just before Jesus went to the cross, He said to His disciples, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever. He is the Spirit of truth,” (John 14:16-17 HCSB). Jesus knew His disciples—and all of us since—were not equipped to handle His leaving. Or the task He was about to assign. He was getting ready to issue the call to take the gospel to the world. Our call now too. Talk about not wanting to get distracted. The disciples needed help. So do we. We need a supernatural Spirit-connection.
Jesus said, “When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth,” (John 16:13). The Greek word for “guide” here indicated the kind of leading that helps a person discover the truth, yes, but even more, the kind that helps a person live out that truth. It’s guiding that empowers us to do what we are otherwise powerless to do.
Is there a task you feel is too big for you? Hold the phone. Because the power to do it is already inside you! God’s Spirit is all you need. You are so gloriously connected!
So let’s let everybody else keep their savvy and braggy in their swaggy. I want to move on from too many distractions that are all hashtaggy and hedgehoggy. We can live joyously and victoriously Spirit-empowered. And completely un-gaggy.