Gadgets, Necessary or Evil?

New Life Ministries: 1-800-NEW-LIFE: "Gadgets, Necessary or Evil?

by Steve Arterburn

Always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:20

Do you sometimes wonder how you ever got along without some new invention or service that comes along?

Until recently, Floraine Alba, a grandmother in New Jersey, used to write 50 checks a month to pay her household bills. It would take hours. Now she has cut three or four hours off that time by paying her bills on-line, electronically. 'Spending all day writing checks and stuffing envelopes was bad enough,' Alba said, 'then I had to go stand in line at the post office.'

Each day more devices fill our lives . . . cellular phones, fax machines, personal computers, lap tops, PDA's, IPods, and answering machines. Sometimes, we wonder how we ever got along without a particular thing or item. Then it breaks, and we remember what it was like to lift our garage door each day or to wait until we found a phone booth to make a call.

The subtle danger of a new device is it can make us desire things over our relationships with people. Don't get caught up in wanting the next device or service but think about what these desires are doing to us and our relationships with others.

I challenge you today, to pause for a moment before"