Near and Far: Restoring Connection in a Digital Age

But, no, the the power of the cross, the son of God given for us, Jesus died so the dead things can come to an end. Can we put an end to the invader of distractions? Can we put an end to the exile of feeling like, I don't have time for God. I don't have space to listen. If you're feeling like that, that's that's not a good thing, and that's all of us. Can we get to the restoration created by Jesus on the cross if he brings to the grave that which needs to be left in the grave? [00:47:12] (31 seconds)  #CrossRestoresLife

Alright? But if you wanna be in everyday life kinda church and find the gospel of Jesus in real everyday life stuff, you gotta look what is the version of the bible that would speak to this kind of situation that we find ourselves in and how much the world has changed in the most recent decades. And and and so I I actually do feel a parallel here where digital technology does feel oftentimes like like an invader. [00:31:58] (24 seconds)  #DigitalInvader

Right? Like, we have the power of the world wide web sitting in our pocket at all times. And if we don't, out of some habitual instinct, pull it out to to look at it, well, it sends a little push notification so that it makes us look at it. Right? Like, this thing is invading our everyday lives more than anything else what what whatsoever. Number two, sometimes I feel like it does place our relationships in exile. [00:32:22] (24 seconds)  #PocketWebInvasion

The invader is the inattentiveness. Do the people in your life really know you right now? Do you feel seen, or does it just feel surface level? Do you feel like God really knows you and sees what you're going through right now? Maybe you should get off the devices long enough to say, God, I'd like to register a complaint today. It worked for Habakkuk. I'm gonna try it myself because I don't think you see me. [00:44:54] (29 seconds)  #BeSeenNotScrolling

Number one, I feel like we're supposed to feel that there's always gonna be invaders and there's always gonna be exiles. That's what's in this story. They said it right there. Like, when you're far away, sometimes God pushes you far away just so you know how far feels like. And then other times, he's he's gonna pull you out of that exile and and bring you back. God's both. God embraces the dynamics of back and forth that meets you there. [00:48:00] (31 seconds)  #GodOfNearAndFar

Again, people out there far are going to be brought near, and you will hear the city of god being explained. You're like, we we can only be talking about heaven. Right? Place where no more war happens, where all the nations get get along. There's nothing to be afraid of. Yet at the same time, he doesn't describe it as, okay. That's just for heaven out there. It's like, no. This is my plan for this world right here. Watch the two pieces come together, the far and the near. [00:25:29] (29 seconds)  #KingdomHereNow

Instead, you had a little phone where you took your selfie post and you got to measure with how many likes whether or not you were pretty or not. And it just spiked the anxiety in in in both, not just in terms of of of that, but it brought down the socializing. Again, you enter you older generation have have been arguing the whole time. Why don't you put down your phone and talk to a person? You know, like, if you ever watched your grandchild entertain their dating relationship with snaps going back and forth, you're like, put it down and talk to her. [00:36:39] (31 seconds)  #PutDownThePhone

it takes something in a classroom to turn to someone, say hello, and make a friend. What you do on a screen is make a follower, not a friend. It's as easy as a couple thumb clicks back and forth, and now I have a follower. But you can lose a follower too, and it doesn't feel the same as, like, when you lose a friend. [00:38:25] (19 seconds)  #FollowersNotFriends

Can we put an end to the invader of distractions? Can we put an end to the exile of feeling like, I don't have time for God. I don't have space to listen. If you're feeling like that, that's that's not a good thing, and that's all of us. Can we get to the restoration created by Jesus on the cross if he brings to the grave that which needs to be left in the grave? [00:47:19] (21 seconds)

I actually do feel a parallel here where digital technology does feel oftentimes like like an invader. Right? Like, we have the power of the world wide web sitting in our pocket at all times. And if we don't, out of some habitual instinct, pull it out to to look at it, well, it sends a little push notification so that it makes us look at it. Right? Like, this thing is invading our everyday lives more than anything else what what whatsoever. Number two, sometimes I feel like it does place our relationships in exile. We are farther from the people around us. [00:32:14] (34 seconds)

it takes something in a classroom to turn to someone, say hello, and make a friend. What you do on a screen is make a follower, not a friend. It's as easy as a couple thumb clicks back and forth, and now I have a follower. But you can lose a follower too, and it doesn't feel the same as, like, when you lose a friend. Like, part of the conditioning that happens is, like, you realize in your teenage years, you need to treat people a certain way. If you do not have enough kindness in your life, no one wants to be around you, and you need that mirrored back to you. You were acting like a jerk right now. No one wants to be my friend, so maybe I should learn how to be more kind. You don't learn that on the app because the the follower count just goes up or down and and whatever. It's it's more disposable unlike a person [00:38:25] (47 seconds)

in a classroom to turn to someone, say hello, and make a friend. What you do on a screen is make a follower, not a friend. It's as easy as a couple thumb clicks back and forth, and now I have a follower. But you can lose a follower too, and it doesn't feel the same as, like, when you lose a friend. Like, part of the conditioning that happens is, like, you realize in your teenage years, you need to treat people a certain way. If you do not have enough kindness in your life, no one wants to be around you, and you need that mirrored back to you. You were acting like a jerk right now. No one wants to be my friend, so maybe I should learn how to be more kind. You don't learn that on the app because the the follower count just goes up or down and and whatever. It's it's more disposable unlike a person [00:38:26] (46 seconds)