Sometimes we always see people pulling out their phones and ignoring others around them. When you hang out at hope fellowship, you hurry and take out your phone and start to scroll around the screen.  Sometimes when you are in a hurry you even drop your phone and crack your screen!! We pull out our phone because some people think our phone can distract us from having an awkward feeling, because they are tempted to see the “interesting things there” or because they have nothing to do in their life. Today’s Bible study was about addiction which some of us have that problem with our phones.  For me, when I always get addicted to the phone, it’s mindless scrolling. When I started scrolling I couldn’t stop myself. I have a lack of self control.  I don’t know why, but whenever I started touching the phone it was always dinner time, when I had to leave everything down and eat. But when I’m on the phone I can’t stop until someone tells me to, and I sometimes even find excuses like “I need to post pictures for Hope Fellowship.”  Which I could do later or the next day.  And then all my family were downstairs waiting for me to eat with them but I was still on the phone.  This was hard for me because I thought I was doing things that are related to God that I have to do first, but it was not, because I was also scrolling the “interesting stuff”. It’s not double tasking at this point but a waste of time?  So now what I have to do is to pray to God and ask Him for help.

So is it you who is using your cell phone – or is your cell phone using you?  The phone is no longer just a communication device – but for many people it has become more like a “friend”, a “companion” and a “partner”. In fact, cell phone use has become addictive for many phone users around the world. In 1 Corinthians 10:23 says “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive.  Cell phone addiction can also affect people’s work or study because a person may want to be connected to his/her phone at all times. But the most negative thing is that we are having a poor relationship with others and with God.  Therefore excessive cell phone use draws us away from the very things that we should value the most. Such as face-to-face relationships; spending quality time with loved ones or even the amount of time we spend with God.   Even if using the phone is not a sin – it is important for one to discern if the cell phone has become an addiction in your life rather than a tool that you control.  

Besides this, we need to learn discipline and have self control over our actions. Some things you can do to stay away from your electronics are shutting them off or shut off the notification, don’t sleep with your phone or electronic beside your bed or under your pillow, have productive habits in your life such as reading the Bible(but not on phone though,) and set goals to focus like not touching your phone for a week. You can set that goal maybe during the Christmas season and you can help with the church and community. Lastly, you can also pray to God. In Colossians 3:1-2 says “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.” After all, our minds should be focused on the heavenly things that bring joy and meaning to our life. Our minds should be focused on God and be consumed by heavenly things because without Christ or the mind of Christ, we cannot overcome the sin on this earth.