Cell Phones And Bibles


I was sitting in a worship service of a friend’s church not long ago and as part of the service little pieces of paper were passed out to the folks sitting in the pews. On the pieces of paper were the words of a short poem which talks about cell phones and Bibles.

I am not sure who the author is, but he or she raises some very interesting questions.

The theme of this poem was very thought provoking; and, by way of asking a series of questions, it challenged the reader to evaluate priorities.

Specifically, the poem opens by raising the question of what would happen if we were to treat our Bible like we treat our cell phone.

For those of you living in areas where cell phones have not become so common place, this may seem a strange question; but, for those of us living in areas where cell phones are all too common place, this poem might make more sense.

The poem asks the question as to what would happen if we would carry the Bible around on our person, just like folks carry their cell phone around in their purses and pockets.

The poem points out the frequency that people flip through their cell phone on a daily basis; raising the question of what would happen if we cell phone users searched through the Bible with such frequency on a daily basis.

The poem then points out that people would turn back and go get their cell phone if they forgot it? The logical question is whether we would do the same for our Bible.

Many use the cell phone to receive messages in the form of text; keeping with the cell phone analogy, the poet seems to suggest that we should, even more so, be looking for messages from the text of the Holy Bible.

I do agree with the poet that some people seem to act as if they cannot live without their cell phone. Do we treat our Bible as if we cannot live without it?

The poem sheds light on another cell phone practice: how many of us always make sure to take our cell phone with us when we travel; do we always take our Bible with us?

Yes, and it has even become very popular to give children cell phones as gifts. How often do we think of giving a child the gift of a Bible?

The poem continues further, but I think the point is clear:

We can sometimes have things in our life that become so dear to us, that we depend on so greatly in our lives; but what if we made the Bible a special thing that we kept with us continually, consulted frequently, and treasured so much, that we would not think of going a day without it? What sort of impact might that have on our life and the lives of those we encounter.

Let me end by sharing a couple of passages that might be appropriate for our discussion of how important God’s Word should be in our lives:

Psalms 119:103-105

103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

104 Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.

105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.


Psalms 119:147-148

147 I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word.

148 Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.