I have a fancy Blackberry. It is not just a phone with a colorful screen. It is a device that allows me to see my email no matter where I am. I receive over 100 work-related emails a day. Many of these emails require action on my part. Left unattended, they fill up my mailbox. The Blackberry allows me to maintain a sense of sanity. The Blackberry is affectionately called a CrackBerry by its users because of the addictive nature it has. It is easy to become quite addicted to having this constant access to email and communication with your peers. That got me thinking about the concept of constant communication.

Constant communication (listening and talking) with my wife would be good. I wish I could say that I am always listening to her. Certainly there would be times when it would be obtrusive or inconvenient to have her listening to me, though, like when I am planning her birthday party or when I am watching the Broncos play football with my friends. Perhaps it would be nice to be in constant communication with my kids. I would love to hear their every conversation, but I would not want them involved in every conversation of mine. I have many friends all over the world and our relationships would benefit from constant communication. But after a while, it would be daunting to manage that much racket.

Upon reflection, constant communication is difficult to imagine. Our brains do not handle the concept well. We are incapable of having more than two or three conversations at a time. OK – only one at a time. Even the Blackberry needs to be left in the basement (like a naughty puppy) sometimes. We simply cannot and do not listen very well. We are single-threaded in that way. We sure can talk all the time, though. No matter what is going on, we are able to talk about it. There is no shortage of talking in the world.

If we think about communication with God, we usually think of prayer as the vehicle through which we speak to God. We usually think of Bible reading as the vehicle through which He speaks to us.

Who do you talk to? What do you talk to? I was in a car the other day where the driver was talking to the road signs. While that may seem somewhat neurotic, it seems to me like a good thing to do – well, at least similar to a good idea. I believe we can interact in constant communication. Certainly it is impossible to do so with fellow humans (or road signs) – but we can do so with God.

I have long been an advocate of constant prayer. While prayer can be a routine event – before we eat, when someone is sick, throughout a church service – prayer can also be an informal event. Little arrow prayers, as I have heard them called, that we shoot up to God in times of trouble or need or gratitude.

When Paul closes the book of 1 Thessalonians, he gives us a list of things to do and not do. One thing he tells us to do in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 is – Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. This does not mean that we should be repetitive in our prayers (Matthew 6:7-8), but rather persistent. Paul gives us similar instructions in Ephesians 6:18; Philippians 4:6; and in Colossians 4:2. He uses words like steadfast and at all times.

I am encouraged that while my human friends cannot seem to carry on constant communication with me, my heavenly Friend can. I read a story about a man who enjoyed an incredible relationship with God. When this man and another man were in a room talking, the second man would notice that the first man spoke as if there was a third person in the room. It did not take long for the second man to realize that the first was talking with and to God while speaking to his human friends. If we truly believe that God is always with us – if we truly believe He is always present – should we not also treat Him that way? Should we not also talk to Him as if He is in the room? Should not our human friends notice that we are in constant communication with God?

Take hope, for God is always present and always listening. You already are in constant communication with God. Participate!

-z

Tags: blackberry, thessalonians

This entry was posted by zac on Thursday, August 31st, 2006 at 7:57 am and is filed under Weekly Jib Jab. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.