Turn Off Your Cell Phones!

My wife and I went to see some movies in the theater recently.  Every single time there were one or more people in the theater who felt compelled to whip out their phones during the movie and check their messages, the brightness of their phones penetrating the dark theater like a lightning bolt flashing across the sky.  Apparently, the commercial that the theaters always show about being polite by not talking and not checking your phone during the movie were lost on them.  Or perhaps they are just being selfish, self-centered, and rude, living in their own world with their own rules of self-convenience.  We were watching this one movie where there were literally only five people attending, including us and I thought, finally, no one will whip out their phone.  But no, the one person in the theater who came in late and sat two seats over from us (why she didn’t find a seat further away in a theater that was 99% empty I’ll never know) took out her phone at least four times during the movie.  I’ll never understand it.  Why go to a movie if all you are going to do is look at your phone, the light being so bright it’s like an explosion going off in the theater every time it’s opened? 

And then I really started noticing this cell phone addiction.  We were at a mall eating lunch and our table was out in the front where people walked by the restaurant.  There were seats opposite us in the walkway where people were sitting, either resting or waiting for someone.  Every single one of them had their face buried into their cell phones, like zombies staring blankly into the abyss.  Even people walking through the mall, going from store to store, often had their phones in front of them as they walked.  

Is this a disease?  An addiction?  I think so.  Apparently, it’s worldwide because I’ve observed this same behavior both in America and Thailand.  People seem to be in a trance, caught up in their own world, their own priorities, their own needs, wants and demands.  And God help anyone who gets in their way or dares to ask them to turn off their cell phone in a darkened theater during a movie. Who cares if it’s rude and disturbs everyone else’s enjoyment of the movie all because they need to urgently look at a random notification that just popped on their phone concerning a weekend sale coming up at some furniture store?  

I guess I’m ranting a little, but I just get so weary about the rudeness and self-centered prideful attitude I’m seeing on the increase.  I don’t have any answers and am far from perfect myself.  But there is one person who is perfect.  And one day I know I’ll be with Him, along with my wife and family and friends in Christ.  So that’s enough for me.  Enough to get me through this current life and do my best to ignore the overwhelming rudeness overflowing throughout this terrestrial ball. 

• “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (Revelation 22:12-13) 

• “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
(Matthew 6:19-21)

• Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

Peter replied, “You are the Messiah sent from God!”

Jesus warned his disciples not to tell anyone who he was. “The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”

Then he said to the crowd, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross daily, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? If anyone is ashamed of me and my message, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in his glory and in the glory of the Father and the holy angels.
(Luke 9:20-26)

• Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3)

• Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. (Ephesians 4:2)