“You pity the moth confusing a lamp for the moon, yet here you are confusing a screen for the world.”
My Commentary:
That sentence is profound because the moth’s mistake is obvious to us, while our own mistake is much harder to see.
The moth is attracted to artificial light. So are we.
We awaken and reach for our smart phones. We eat while looking at screens. We sit beside people we love while reading about people we don’t know. We scroll through photographs of sunsets instead of watching the sunset outside our window. We collect hundreds of “friends” while sometimes forgetting the person sitting across the table.
Technology is not the enemy. It can educate us, connect us, inspire us, and accomplish enormous good. The danger comes when the tool becomes the master — when the screen stops being a window into life and becomes a substitute for life.
Jesus continually called people into real encounters. He looked into people’s eyes. He touched the sick. He welcomed children. He ate with sinners. He noticed the lonely. Christianity itself is profoundly physical: bread, wine, water, touch, community.
God did not send us a message.
“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”
Perhaps we occasionally need to ask ourselves: Am I experiencing life — or merely watching it?
Put down your smart phone as much as you can.
Look at someone’s face. Listen without checking a message. Walk outside. Watch the ocean. Notice the moon.
Pray in silence.
The moth mistakes the lamp for the moon.
May we never mistake a glowing screen for the magnificent life God has placed all around us.
In all honesty, how much time in a day do YOU spend looking at a smart phone, tablet, computer screen or TV? Are you experiencing life — or merely watching it? How about the members of your family?
SUDDENLY I REALIZED THAT EVERY SINGLE THING IN MY LIFE IS FLEETING, AND THAT ONLY GOD IS ETERNAL!
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