Voice-Activated By God
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles, uncategorizedIn a 1999 CNN article, technology experts reported that computer keyboards and other electronic devices would become obsolete as more functions would become voice-activated. Instead of typing a letter to a friend, we would simply speak the words to a computer that would print them on paper. Voice-activation would so permeate daily life, that instead of pressing buttons and twisting dials, we would give verbal instructions to everything from the television to the toaster. When we spoke, it would be done. As I write this article in 2007, much of this technology is already in place.
Voice-activated devices are programmed to do what they are told. God could have made us that way too, but instead gave us the power of choice, leaving us to decide whether or not we’ll listen and obey (cf. Joshua 24:14-15).
James urges us to obey God every time He speaks to us through His Word when he writes, “Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22). Self-deception comes when we listen to God’s Word without doing what it says. We quickly forget what the Lord shows us about ourselves and wander along our way unchanged (James 1:23-24).
It’s natural to want God to hear and answer us, but the greater issue is whether we listen and respond to Him. Does God have our attention today? Are we choosing to be voice-activated by every word from Him? (Matthew 4:4).
Before we open our Bibles, let’s ask the Author to open our heart (1 Kings 3:5-9 – NKJV; cf. James 1:5).