BBD 01.24.07 The Lonely Planet
Posted by: wrather <wrather@...>
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The Burning Bush Devotional
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01.24.07
The Lonely Planet
Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold
their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from
house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,
praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the
church daily those who were being saved. - Acts 2:44-47.
And the LORD God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make
him a helper comparable to him." - Genesis 2:18.
For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the
same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually
members of one another. - Romans 12:4-5.
Over the past ten to fifteen years there appears to have developed an
affinity for privacy among the majority of people. I first noticed it with
young people. When I introduce myself to a young person, giving both my
first and last names invariably their response is to only say their first
name. If I want to know their last name, I have to ask for it specifically.
Then we have had the federal privacy rules and one development nearly all of
us love is the Do Not Call List. One result of the privacy rules is that the
names of those entering and leaving the hospital are no longer published in
the newspaper. However, those who have passed away do still have their names
published although I do wonder how long that will be allowed to continue.
An article I read this last week talks about the new status symbol of
anonymity. According to the article the new status is to be non-famous, to
google your name and it not to be there. A special status would be for a
search of your name at myspace or youtube or other similar social sites to
turn up nothing, nada, zilch. Although a recent poll by Pew Research Center
of 18-25-year-olds did find that fifty-one percent of them still had the
life goal of becoming famous. It may be that there is a dichotomy here that
they want it both ways. After all that is what their idols who have fame are
wanting. The famous want fame and the money that it brings but at the same
time, they want to be anonymous - to walk down the street and no one to
notice them. The famous want to be famous but not googleable.
All of this is really very sad because a complete disconnection from our
fellow human beings was never something God wanted or intended. As God put
it, "It is not good that man should be alone." Yesterday, I celebrated 37
years of marriage and I am grateful that God did not want man to be alone
because it would be a difficult and much less beautiful world without my
wife. But God's plan for solving the loneliness of man went far beyond the
individual family. God's plan was for a community of interconnected people
from all generations to become so close and so connected that they would
become the "body of Christ".
Because of the ice storm and then the snowstorm, it has been more than two
weeks since I have been able to be with my church family. I've missed them!!
Surely, it is not God's will for us to be alone. Whether we are famous or
not, or whether we are on myspace or googleable really is not that important
but no one should be alone. The great thing about what God has done for us
through Jesus is that no one has to be alone. You do not have to be a part
of the lonely planet. No, you can be a part of the connected planet, the
really connected planet: the body of Christ.
Copyright © 2007. Ed Wrather. Permission is given for use of the devotionals
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