Smart Apps

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105 (NIV)

I remember when phones were for talking to someone else, cameras were for pictures, letters were for writing and encyclopedias were for looking up answers to questions.

When I was a youngster my grandparents in rural Nebraska were on an eight-party line (that means there were seven other families sharing the same telephone line, one had to know the number and type of rings before answering or you might answer and be in the middle of some other family’s discussion). The phone also had a hand crank used to ring the number desired – i.e. two short and one long for Uncle Weldon, three long and one short for Aunt Irene. I remember the phone number in my home was three numbers long. We progressed from there to four numbers with a three-digit prefix that did not have to be dialed. We have moved from talking to the operator before a call to a rotary where each number had to be dialed. Then a push button. But all of those required the people on each end to remain in their respective places – at the end of a hard wire. But as we became more cosmopolitan we needed a way to stay in touch when out and about in the world and we got one – cell phones.

My first cell phone was the approximate size of a small briefcase and required an antenna attached to the top of the car. We have certainly changed since that time. I still use a ‘flip’ phone but most people I know carry a ‘smart’ phone. They are ‘smart’ because they can take pictures (including video), send and receive text messages, send and receive emails, Facebook, Skype, play games, talk back to you, answer questions, pay your bills, and wake you up each morning. Your phone can be the focal point of your life and it is for many people of all generations. Can’t leave home without it!

My wife and our extended family have ‘smart’ phones and they all have ‘apps’ for them. I am amazed, there are thousands and thousands of ‘apps’ available and more are being created every minute of the day. The ‘apps’ you have on your phone may well define who you are.

Did you know that there are God ‘apps’ available and no phone required? Search free Scripture ‘apps’, by picking up a Bible – even most motel rooms have one. Check out the Love app “…Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Check out some of the thousands available: The Contentment App! (Philippians 4:11–13); the Unity App! (Ephesians 4:1–6); the Fruit App! (Galatians 5:22). Scripture is chock full of ‘apps’ with which to focus your life.

Spend some time in God’s Apps, they are free, they are just an opened Bible away – and you can even get them for your “smart” phone.

Prayer: Most Glorious Heavenly Father, may I focus my life through knowing and applying the ‘apps’, of your word to my life and may the application of your word show to those who I interact with each day of my life. Amen