“Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known” (Jeremiah 33:3 ESV).
“They all joined together constantly in prayer…” (Acts 1:14 NIV84).
Last year I finally bought a phone plan that included unlimited texting. I know, I hear you. I’m a little behind the curve. But I figured why do I need to type when I can talk? I mean, isn’t that why the phone replaced the telegraph? No more tapping messages, just talk to each other.
However, people kept sending me text messages. On my old phone plan I had to pay for each one. It ticked me off!
“Stop texting me!” I would shout at my cell phone, whenever someone sent me a text. “That just cost me 50 cents!”
And then, after looking at the text, I sometimes couldn’t even read the thing! Especially when one of my kids or a member of the younger crowd would text me. They used some kind of code.
If I succeeded in decoding the text, I’d be stumped as to how to respond. Should I just call? Or what if I tried to text them back? At the time, I had an older cell phone, so I had to use the numeric pad to find letters of the alphabet. What would’ve taken me seconds to say took minutes to punch. Frustrating.
Finally, I realized I was fighting a losing battle. Texting seems here to stay. I even upgraded to a phone with a mini-typewriter. I can text with the best of them now. I suppose I see the advantage, especially when you’re wanting to communicate with someone who is a little long-winded (Of course, I’m not talking about you. I love talking to you), or you just want to let someone know you’re running late or something.
I am concerned that people are taking this texting thing too far though. Have you seen people standing together texting each other? I don’t get it. Why let technology come between us? I understand using it as a servant of communication, but when it creates distance rather than intimacy, I say, “Stop it!” Just talk to each other.
I’m observing this social distancing in our spiritual communication too. Believers get together to pray and then spend the whole time giving their prayer requests while leaving little time to actually pray. And these requests are often not even from their deepest area of need. Many tend to ask for prayers for distant acquaintances. “Please pray for my mother’s brother-in-law’s next door neighbor. I don’t know him, but I heard that his dog is sick.”
Prayer is a little scary to people in a hurry. We’re afraid to slow down and really hear from God. It’s especially terrifying to people who are afraid of true intimacy and authenticity. When we get face to face and knee to knee to pray together, something other-worldly happens. Prayer is the highest form of communication. It creates intimacy with God and with one another.
So, let’s stop texting God our short, shallow prayers. He invites us to “call” out to Him in prayer, to pour out our souls to Him. Let’s determine to be a people devoted to praying long and deep prayers, prayers that expose our hearts to God and to one another. And let’s devote ourselves to “constantly” praying together, really experiencing what it means to be the very body of Christ with Him as Head.