Can you imagine being so satisfied by doing God’s will that you weren’t even distracted by hunger, much less your phone? In John 4, Jesus was so focused on God’s will that he could go without food, because doing God’s will was more fulfilling to him than even eating. These are signs of an unhealthy soul that needs a hit of an entertainment or distraction drug to find satisfaction and enjoyment.īut as Christ followers, we are supposed to have such a satisfaction in knowing and doing the will of God that we are not susceptible to other cravings. We want to put off dealing with relationship conflicts or the pain, disease, and disabilities in our bodies. We want to put off the responsibilities God has given us as bosses, employees, fathers, mothers, and students. We want to put off the day ahead, especially when it looks routine to us. We want to feed on what is fascinating, weird, strange, wonderful, or shocking.
We want to know what people are saying about us, so we get on social media looking for likes and positive comments. Without Jesus your FOMO will lead to nomophobia. (In fact, sociologists have classified a condition where you experience a legitimate anxiety of being too separated from your phone, called “nomophobia”-i.e. We’re afraid that our friends are going to know something we don’t know. John Piper wrote a great article that gives six reasons why we are so drawn to technology first thing in the morning and at the first sign of a lull: Apple now has a feature that tracks this, and most people I know who are using this have been shocked at how much time they are spending staring at their screens. It explains why, when you are bored and don’t know what to do, you instinctively reach for your phone. (We have not confirmed whether the Twitter overlords were malicious in this regard or just lucky.) As with other addictions, we feel like we need increasingly more of it for the same “high.” This might explain why studies show that 33 percent of people regularly check their phones in the middle of the night, or why 12 percent of people check their phones while in the shower. Interestingly, dopamine pushes are actually heightened when the “hits” are smaller thus 140-character messages seem almost designed to create a dopamine-addiction loop. Scientists say the reason many of us are so attached to our phones is that when we look at social media, a chemical is released called dopamine, the same substance that causes people to get addicted to drugs and porn and other vices.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the way we use our phones.
Like Mary, when our soul is out of fellowship with Jesus, we are always craving more-which is why our radar is always on and searching for the next enticement. And so, her soul craved the significance that came from serving. Martha’s rebuke of her sister Mary, who sat at Jesus’ feet to listen to him instead of helping Martha serve their guests, revealed that Jesus was not the in right place in Martha’s heart.
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