David Jones
“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”
Colossians 3:2
Last Sunday in the early morning I read a tweet a friend of mine posted. I don’t know exactly why I get them but his are the only ones that I am notified on, while others I have to go and open Twitter to find out what people think and say in the mayhem that is social media. Every tweet he posts is focused on the same theme. Leadership. Now don’t get me wrong, his tweets are interesting and line up with who he is and what his focus in life has been for many years. He is a Christian mentor of young leaders and at one time was influential in my life. I am grateful for those days.
Something bothered me though. His tweets made me think a lot about the things that occupy our minds and our time. I asked myself, what occupies me? Of course life requires us to be focused on many legitimate things which need to be attended to; but Sunday morning and throughout the day I received notifications from him with his favorite theme. The answer to my question became clearer as we began to worship at our weekly Breaking of Bread service. The reason I was bothered is that I found a steady diet of good advice, but very humanistically based leadership wisdom emanating from my social media device. I was bothered because over the years I have not received much from him that shows he is occupied with Christ. How many people tweet and re-tweet news items, thoughts and opinions. Often they go around the world faster than almost anything we do. We glance regularly at our phones to see the latest video or saying that is trending. At times we get a visual glimpse on snap chat or the latest status on Facebook. How many of these truly are occupied with content that will steer our thoughts toward Jesus Christ?
To illustrate it, I want to tell you about a basketball coach my son had. He was knowledgeable about basketball but a terrible communicator and coach. He did not care much about the team and when he spoke, it often was not instructive or positive. He was also a very inadequate teacher. He would tell his class to do silent reading during most of his hours of teaching and spend the majority of the time on his smartphone. Guess what he was doing? He was tweeting and re-tweeting quotes by famous coaches and sports figures! The content was how to win, how to communicate, how to give leadership. All his words were misapplied.
The lesson we learn is that we can be consumed with the mechanics of things because words are easy to repeat but do not always require action. We can talk about things that matter, but do we get occupied and apply ourselves to the things that matter?
So the question is; am I occupied with Christ? Do I just talk in circles about good things but never get to the heart of what God wants from me? 1 Peter 1:13 gives us perspective. “Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at His coming.”
The Breaking of Bread last Sunday had a theme about God’s grace; those whom I spoke with felt blessed by the theme and the focus on Christ. Thoughts were shared, songs were sung, scriptures read and all of it was about God’s son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I was spiritually touched by God’s Spirit and led into intimate moments with the Savior collectively and personally. I didn’t tweet it out, I was busy, I was occupied with Christ.