What I Really Need

I like gadgets. I always have liked gadgets. I remember as seeing as a kid someone with a remote control for their television. I thought I had touched the future! This was the ultimate gadget—you could change channels and adjust the volume without moving. Now this was in an age in which no one got more than three channels, so channel surfing really wasn’t all that big a deal. But this was THE gadget! Now it was at least twenty years later before I owned a TV with a remote control. I love gadgets, but I’m seldom on the cutting edge of actually having them.

The gadget I am looking at now is PDA phone, like the Palm Treo (I’m not sure whether I want the Palm or Windows Mobile, but If it goes like the TV remote, I have 20 years to decide). But my reason for wanting the PDA phone is much higher (and spiritual)— I would always have access to my Bible program. There are times when you are out and don’t have a Bible with you, but it would be right there on the phone. Several versions. With search capability. I need all that because I am a preacher. Let me know if any of this is working for you; I have spring it on Lynn at some point.

OK, seriously. Is the reason that we don’t read the Bible more than we do really because we don’t have it yet in the optimal form? Would you read the Bible more if you had the perfect edition with just the right print size and style? Will I really read my phone more than I do my printed Bible (or computer Bible)? Or do you think our failure to make reading God’s word more a part of our lives has more to do with our priorities?

There was a man in Kansas City who was critically injured in an explosion—he was blinded, lost both of his hands and mangle in other ways. As he recovered, one of his great frustrations was that he could not read the Bible for himself. He heard about a woman in England who could read Braille with her lips, so he decided to learn Braille. He was discouraged again because the explosion had also damaged the nerves in his lips. But as he was trying to make the Braille-through-the-lips technique work, he accidentally he touched the Braille page with his tongue and he could feel the little bumps. He went on to learn Braille, and he would read through the Bible many times after that.

Here was a guy who wanted God’s word so much he could literally taste it! I think the “gadget” that would allow all of us to read the Bible more is a heart that so desires God and His truth in our lives that we’re going read and feed no matter what. OK, I still want the Treo, but what I really need is that hunger of heart that won’t be filled with anything less that God.

How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path. (Psalm 119:103-104)