I wanna make a confession to you, and it’s one that I’m not proud of. We didn’t mean to do it. On behalf of parents, we didn’t plan it. No mom and dad ever held their newborn and thought, “One day I’m gonna hand you a device that seems normal and necessary. I can know where you are. You can stay connected.
You can be entertained. I’ll give you Bluey to watch whenever I’m busy. We had no idea that one day you’d be scrolling on this device late at night, your mind racing and your heart anxious, that you would compare with others and feel left out, depressed, and alone. We never dreamed that you might click on pornography and be trapped and feel like you had no one to talk to.
We didn’t take into account the algorithms that were designed to trap you, lie to you, and addict you. And honestly, somehow we became addicted, too. We didn’t mean to, but we did.” We’re in a message series called “The Connected Life,” and I just kind of want to acknowledge the tension as we talk about how do we navigate and manage wisely these devices because they actually seem incredibly necessary.
Would you agree? Like, almost how do you live without one? There’s so much good in it. We have to acknowledge it. Like, you can FaceTime Grandma, which my grandkids do every single day. FaceTime Gigi. You got the YouVersion Bible app. You can connect with God’s Word, His living Word, this active, powerful. Right on your device, at any time, anywhere, you can order groceries to your house.
To the glory of God! That’s an amazing thing. You can watch sermons on YouTube. You can know where your kids are every moment of the day. Those of you who are parents now, that wasn’t a thing. Back in the day, we didn’t have Find Friends. If you wanted to find your kids, you had to find their bike at someone’s front yard; that’s how you found your kids. We would tell our mom and dad, “I’m going to Timmy’s house.
” Timmy would say, “I’m going to Craig’s house.” We’d go to Cancun with no passport and be back by midnight. They had no idea. I mean, we could go anywhere. And so you look at these things, and there are so many great advantages and blessings with them. And then there’s the downside.
The most obvious might be that you can waste literally years of your life scrolling, looking at people that you’ll never, ever meet. And so when I talk about this with passion, I’m gonna tell you right now, like, I know I am on this thing too much, and I’ve tried to kind of tweak it a little bit, but I’ve realized that tweaking’s not really working, that we need to be a little bit more drastic if we wanna find freedom.
And so if you do feel trapped or if you look around you and your loved ones appear to be trapped, I wanna tell you right now, the truth is we can find freedom in Christ. We can find freedom in Christ. In fact, it was Jesus who said this. He said, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
” (congregation exclaiming) (congregation applauding) If you find yourself frustrated that so much of your life is wasted looking at a screen, there is a better way, and we’re gonna ask God to help us find it. Holy Spirit, would You speak to us, Your church? God, would You give us wisdom to say no to that which harms us and the wisdom to say yes to whatever could help us? Holy Spirit, do a work in our hearts and in our lives that we could be innocent and wise.
God, help us be free from anything that takes us from You and others. We pray this in Jesus’ name, and everybody said, “Amen.” Amen. Okay, let me talk to the parents first. Parents, raise your hands if you’re a mom or a dad; raise your hand. Parents, I want you to know this. Your spiritual enemy is attacking your kids. He’s coming for your kids. He wants to lie to your kids.
