Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28
Today I had an interesting but sad discussion with a friend who sees patients in the mental health arena. Along the way, she mentioned how her niece is socially withdrawn and living mostly in the world created by her phone. This young girl lacks the skills to interact with other people and retreats to the privacy of her room.
She is not alone. If we’re honest we will admit that we live in a world full of competing voices for our attention. We’ve never been more connected and more alone at the same time. The very devices that promise to connect us drive us further into our little truly lonely worlds.
The technology is different, but is not a new problem. More than twenty years ago, David G. Myers wrote The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty .
We have “bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences but less time, steep profits and shallow relationships. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life; we’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul.”
David G. Myers
The problem we face is a search for meaning in our lives and it is reflected in the spiritual hunger experienced, but often not recognized. Instead, we try to find rest by searching for the next new thing. The next job. A new relationship, finding “community” on line and failing to connect with real live human beings all around us.
With so many competing voices, how can we respond to the voice of Christ in the passage above? We need to make space for Christ in our busy lives. We need to put the devices away and open our hearts because Jesus calls to all who will hear.
And when we come to Christ, He alone can provide the true rest we are looking for from the weariness of life.
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