Beware: The Bible is About to Threaten Your Smartphone Focus

by: John Piper

Are apps a threat to God-focus? Yes. But it works both ways. Fight fire with fire.

If you are reading your Bible on your computer or your smartphone or your iPad, the presence of the email app and the news apps and the Facebook app threaten every moment to drag your attention away from the word of God.

True. Fight that. If your finger offends you, cut it off. Or use any other virtuous violence (Matthew 11:12) that sets you free to rivet your soul on God.

But don’t take mainly a defensive posture. Fight fire with fire.

Why should we think of the Facebook app threatening the Bible app? Why not the Bible app threatening the Facebook app, and the email app, and the RSS feeder, and the news?

Resolve that today you will press the Bible app three times during the day. No five times. Ten times! Maybe you will lose control and become addicted to Bible! Again and again get a two-minute dose of life-giving Food. Man shall not live by Facebook alone.

I’m serious. Never has God’s voice been so easily accessible. The ESV app is free. The OliveTree BibleReader app is free. And so are lots of others. Let the Bible threaten your focus. Or better:

Let the Bible bring you back to reality over and over during the day.

 Read more from John here.
Download PDF

Tags: , ,

| What is MyVisionRoom? > | Back to Culture >

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Piper

John Piper

John Piper is Pastor for Preaching and Vision at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, MN. He grew up in Greenville, SC, and studied at Wheaton College, where he first sensed God's call to enter the ministry. He went on to earn degrees from Fuller Theological Seminary (B.D.) and the University of Munich (D.Theol.). For six years he taught Biblical Studies at Bethel College in St. Paul, MN, and in 1980 accepted the call to serve as pastor at Bethlehem. John is the author of more than 40 books including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist and Bloodlines: Race, Cross, and the Christian. John and his wife, Noel, have four sons, one daughter, and twelve grandchildren.

See more articles by >

COMMENTS

What say you? Leave a comment!

Related Items

  1. Cultural & Religious Cheat Sheet
  2. Ministry Branding and Culture: Two Sides of the Same Coin
  3. Culture Trumps Everything
  4. 4 Stellar Declarations of a Gospel-Centered Church
  5. Small is Good: Communicating the Kingdom of God
  6. How Your Location Impacts Your Biblical Interpretation
  7. 10 Commandments for Creating a Culture of Mission in Your Church
  8. Don’t Bury the Lead; Preach the Gospel
  9. The 22 Rules of Storytelling According to Pixar
  10. The True Heart of the Father
Recent Comments
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you for sharing such a good article. It is a great lesson I learned from this article. I am one of the leaders in Emmanuel united church of Ethiopia (A denomination with more-than 780 local churches through out the country). I am preparing a presentation on succession planning for local church leaders. It will help me for preparation If you send me more resources and recommend me books to read on the topic. I hope we may collaborate in advancing leadership capacity of our church. God Bless You and Your Ministry.
 
— Argaw Alemu
Read Article >
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Amen!!
 
— Scott Michael Whitley
Read Article >
 
comment_post_ID); ?> Thank you so Much for this great article. It has open my eyes on where we have faltered and the things we need to work on. God can never indeed be the problem. It's us.
 
— Bertille
Read Article >
 

Clarity Process

Three effective ways to start moving toward clarity right now.