Like,Share,Tweet, Repeat.!!!

Sam just got home from school. Although starving to grab his lunch, his first instinct was to search out for his smart phone and get to know the latest status updates and twitter feeds. At lunch, he would be swiping his fingers across the device even as his Mom yells in the background to get his  hands off it. He never gets his hands off it until late at night he dozes off as the battery goes down. Rise and Shine !, a new day awakens and off he rises from bed to charge his dead phone for another day of the exciting virtual cycle. Like, share, tweet, chat and what not...the cycle goes on.

Sam represents the typical youth of today. Out for dinner, shopping at the grocer's store, visiting a friend's home or taking a walk in the park ,What matters today is connectivity!. Hey ,Do you have Wifi?, would be the first question you encounter from a friend visiting your home today . We are so buzz with what's going on.We want to stay connected with everybody all the time. Has social media and all this digital hungama become so part of our everyday life that we seldom can live without it?.

I recently watched a video titled 'Look up' that went viral in social media circles .It was an eye opener into what was actually going on. People were missing out on many important aspects of life in the midst of this virtual connectivity. We don't have time to talk to one another yet we chat for hours together. We have lost the value of real relationships and quality time spend together. We are hooked to the world of false emotions relayed through emoticons. Recent surveys have reported that the bulk of the office times of employees in many companies have been occupied by social media.

As believers, we are accountable to God for every moment of our life that we are entrusted with. We must not be tricked in the web of social media. Of course, there are infinite possibilities to use new media for ministry purposes. But the problem arises when we miss out on the important things in life as a result of the overuse of social media. I have felt the urge to check on new updates every single hour. A new chat message, a new friend request,a tweet, a share, a like etc is all what takes to excite the consumer of today. With over billions of users, the world's leading social media companies like Facebook or Whatsapp clearly understand user behavior and they have modeled the functionality of their applications in such a way that ensures back to back visits by the user and hence maintain the continuum.

So what shall I do? Shall I delete all my social media accounts and stay out of all this?. Well, that doesn't solve the problem. I had once deleted my Facebook account and even uninstalled Whatsapp on my cell phone. But that still didn't solve the problem.I still had the desire to go back once in a while, activate the account and check on my friends.

I feel that the problem of social media is its reach. We have access to countless people from various geographical settings and the content generated as a result in the form of videos, images or posts contain a lot of detail that we cant miss out on. Perhaps, it is the breaking news, the match score, the pictures of your friend's wedding which you had missed, your long lost childhood buddy etc. The list can go on for miles. You cant miss a day of it for it has become your first choice of communication for every bit of news.

Today, we have apps for Bible devotions and access to the very best sermons from our choice of speakers. The Bible believing churches in some countries have gone one step ahead in even conducting online worship services and replacing all of their hardcopy Bibles with tabs and apps for reading purposes. Has the technology invasion proved fatal or useful? Of course it has simplified a lot of our work and minimized time in searching for a particular Bible verse, portion etc. But the question again is Have we lost the sanctity and quality of our devotions?. We have made technology do all the work while we seldom take time to actually meditate upon what we have read or spend some quality time in prayer.

Apostle Paul says in I Cor 6:12

"All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any."

As true followers of Christ, we have an obligation to serve our Lord and Master. We must not be mastered by any of the things in the world for we are not of the world. Our earthly service is directed towards eternity and as a result our actions should resemble the same. I am not saying that we must abstain from all forms of technology. But the point here is one of wisdom. Although we are given freedom to exercise whatever God has granted us freely, we also do have a responsibility to chose those things that are useful and keep from being mastered by any. Be all there but be not mastered by any. Always prioritize Christ in every thing that you engage in. Never continue in any activity that you feel is addictive and taking much of your useful time.

Let us redeem the time as the days are evil and make no room for the evil one to make us fall. God bless...