So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know Him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:16-17).
Paul writes to the Corinthian Church, all pumped up about his new identity in Christ. It’s a transformational experience too good to keep to himself. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul tells of his hope in the heavenly kingdom. He speaks of being clothed and readied for a heavenly dwelling. It’s God who guarantees what is to come. This is the essence of hope—a hope in God. It’s this hope that causes him to be willing to let go of the old self, and to take on the new person, in Christ. The new has come. The old has passed away. This kind of newness can never be outlived by the digital titans of the world. Chances are, technologies will be outgunned by one another in a never-ending race of being better so as to survive a little while longer. In a digital world, the stark fact is this. Stop development and your work will die. Maintain development and your work will not die so quickly. Continue innovation and perhaps your work will live a bit longer. The point is, the things of this world will die. They will pass away.
I think of the heydays of IBM/HP/Sun/Dell dominating the computer industry. Not anymore. I think of how Microsoft has monopolized the operating systems market. Not anymore. I think of how Google has upended Yahoo in search engine technologies and how Bluray devices have triumphed over DVDs, VCRs, and HD-DVDs. I think of how is fast becoming obsolete in the world of Facebook, Twitter, and social networking. Some things like technology change so quickly that they’re here today, gone tomorrow. Not God. Not the Word of God. Not the people of God.
Implication: We live in a world where technology is rapidly outlasting itself. We are in the digital world but not of the digital world. God will always outlast anything, even technology.
Being New in Christ
In a technological world, people gravitate toward anything that is the latest, the greatest, the fastest, the jazziest, and the fanciest. Not the things of God. Not Christ. Souls are of bigger concern to God. That’s why Jesus came. That’s why God continues to keep His Promise, His Covenant. Even in a digital world, this has not changed. Behind every Twitter account is a person Christ died for. Behind every Facebook address is an individual Jesus sheds his blood for. Behind every presence on the Internet is a person that Jesus has lived for.
Forget about those electronic robots and spam spiders messing up our inbox. Forget about those Internet marketing gimmicks and messages. Even behind these innovations, there is a human person just like the rest of us, a precious person Jesus longs for. Behind the digital facade, human needs have not really changed. Knowing that behind every digital facade is a person reminds us that loving our neighbor extends also to the digital platform. Technology may change fast. People do not change as fast. Technology may become obsolete. Not people. Technology may be new, but there is something that is newer every morning. It is the steadfast love of the Lord. It is the love that is newer and better than any social media network or technological brilliance. Looking with eyes of love is better than loving the eyes of technology.
May we all remember that behind every digital facade, there is a person. We may not always be called to invent new technologies. We are always called to love people, both in the real world, and in the digital world. Let me close with John Ortberg’s words, from his book, Everybody’s Normal Till You Get To Know Them. In other words, everybody is weird, one way or another. More importantly, everyone has a common need as follows:
“The yearning to attach and connect, to love and be loved, is the fiercest longing of the soul. Our need for community with people and the God who made us is to the human spirit what food and air and water are to the human body. The need will not go away even in the face of all the weirdness” (John Ortberg, Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them).
Don’t just read the person’s digital profile, or Facebook page. Know the person personally. Don’t just twitter to the thousands of faceless individuals. Talk with people to know them more.
Turn off your computer once in a while. Have coffee with a friend. Buy lunch. Chat without your computers or phone. Be available offline as you disconnect online on a periodic basis. That way, we remind ourselves on a regular basis, that behind every digital facade is a person who needs Christ. Like us. It is not the new technologies that best define our future. It is Christ giving us new eyes to see all things. Including new technologies. This is what it means to be new in Christ. —submitted by Conrade Yap, Canada
mike wittmer on December 7, 2011 at 8:43 pm
Good advice, Conrade. One good sign that we need a break from technology is when it becomes invisible. When we no longer notice the computer or phone itself but only what is on the computer or phone. That is when technology is most able to influence us, without our even knowing it.