Have you wondered lately how we ever survived without computers, modems, fax machines, cd roms, or cd players? If the computer does not respond within a few seconds then it must be a dinosaur, and so it better be upgraded to the latest model. If you ask a student to use a typewriter to do an assignment in the average high school today, he may look at you as if you are from the dark ages. Technology has certainly become an intricate part of our every day lives, and frankly, we have grown to rely heavily upon it (i.e. telephone, automobile, electricity, airplane, radio, computer).
There is no question as to the benefits of modern technology. There are so many wonderful tools available today to make the work to the Lord more efficient. With the use of fax machines, modems and electronic mail, Christians can immediately get important information to each other. It is so much simpler now to print and publish Gospel literature. Those who go to serve the Lord in foreign fields no longer have to spend months at sea. Instead of traveling long weary miles by foot, we can now jump in a vehicle and be at our destination in a short period of time.
If the Apostle Paul accomplished all that he did without cars, airplanes, computers, audiovisuals or telephones, imagine what more he could have done with our modern technology. In the days of the Apostles, the church was growing rapidly. Countless numbers of souls were being saved and lives were being completely changed in the midst of persecution. This was occurring without technology. Today we have the technology and the means to reach masses of people through the printed page, radio and television and yet wickedness and evil around us is only increasing. All the tools and technology in the world can not replace the work of the Holy Spirit. During the days of the Apostles and at other times in church history, there were great Holy Spirit revivals and its exciting to read about them, but what about today?
Has modern technology with all of its benefits replaced the work of the Holy Spirit? Have we become so enamored with all these tools that we can not hear the still, small voice of the Holy Spirit? In Heb. 12:1, we are admonished to lay aside every weight that will hinder us from running the race that has been set before us. Could it be that our modern technology has become a great weight in our pilgrimage?
We need to face the sad fact that stereos, radios, computers, televisions, video players, video games and all manner of other gadgets and gizmos are taking priority over fervent prayer, serious Bible study, earnest soulwinning, prayer meetings, church services and any other spiritual endeavors, and we wonder why there is little or no revival. It would just be asking too much for the average believer today to give up some of his favorite filth on television and replace it with earnest prayer or some other service for God.
Why the Apostle Paul would never have passed up the opportunity to play the latest video game or watch the latest video. Obviously we know that is not true and yet so many believers in our day are practicing such things and do not see the incredible negative influence and hold these things have on them. It is noteworthy to consider that the great revival experienced during the Great Awakening in the early days of our nation occurred before the advent of electricity, television or cars!
Modern technology has produced such a fast paced society that even many sincere Christians do not slow down to meditate and contemplate on God and His Word. There must be a time each day when all the technology is shut down and we get alone with God. This includes shutting off the Christian radio, the video player, or the stereo. It must be a time of total quietness and solitude for the sweet Holy Spirit to work in our hearts. Some believers have surrounded themselves with "noise" from the time they get up in the morning until they fall asleep at night. They either have the radio, stereo or television blaring somewhere. They are so accustomed to all this "noise" that they would not know how to handle regular times of total quietness.
Meditation, Bible meditation, Bible memorization, and prayer is too often being replaced with beautiful Christian music on the stereo or radio, but there is a time each day when even the good music needs to be shut off. Listening to good music is not necessarily wrong, but it does not require thinking; whereas Bible study, memorization, and prayer demands total concentration. Unfortunately, we have become lazy minded with these modern tools. The great Bible commentators of the past did not have radios, videos, computers and stereos to side track them and they put their entire focus and concentration into the study of the Scriptures.
Nothing can take the place of that personal quiet time with the Lord. The great missionaries and Christian servants of the past may not have had our modern conveniences, but they knew God and His Word intimately and it showed!
