Junk

Everyday I get gobs of email generated because I signed up for something that required an email address. If possible when registering for access to a website I try to uncheck the box that says I want to receive email from them. Have you noticed that most of the time this box is already checked? Do nothing and you get an inbox full of stuff from them and their partner companies and their employee of the month's grandmother. OK, I made up that last part but the rest is mostly true.

I also receive email that I intended to get. Some of my favorite speakers and writers have regular posts that I like to see. I get updates from my favorite sports teams. I'll get notices when my favorite blogs have been updated. (You can do that for this blog. Look over there to the right where it says, "Get new posts delivered to your inbox.")

Paying bills online is pretty cool. Make sure you trust the sites you use. But if you do use the online systems you'll get email when a new statement is available, when the bill is due, when the bill is past due, and when a payment is received. You'll get their annual privacy policy reminders they are required by law to send to their customers.

Now days I get fewer and fewer email that I really anticipate getting. When my family emails me…I like that. When a friend checks in…I like that. But I don't get as much email like that as I use to get. Why? Because email is not the most popular or easiest way to communicate. Do you remember when you first got into email - this is really for the 50+ crowd. It was new. We had never seen it before. We had to learn how to use the applications. Then we emailed everyone about everything. And if you are an information/communication packrat like me, you built up a very healthy data file.

The IT guy at the company I worked for when I first got email came to me one day. "You know, you have a pretty big data file for your email account. Don't you ever delete anything." "It's not that I don't delete email, it's that I save a lot of it." A LOT OF IT. Ever had that conversation with a boss that turns out to be "He said vs I said"? Yeah, I save email. Big data file.

So there are a lot of ways we can get information that have pushed email from the pedestal…at least in my circles. Social media and messaging rule!

What about church? Specifically, meeting together as a church in Bible study and worship? These gatherings seem to have become obsolete for many people. Do they think of gathering like this in the same way we might think of Andy Taylor's telephone? Do the Christians who skip most of the church's gatherings think there is a better way to be God's people?

And what about the information they receive through Bible studies and sermons? Does that just automatically go the the "Junk" folder to be ignored for a while then deleted altogether? Do Christians anticipate receiving the Good News found in the Bible?

I believe a person's attitude about the Word of God is on display in the way they apply its teachings.

Just like my email is full of stuff I don't really look at, my social media accounts are that way, too. I skip over much of it. But there is no page in your Bible you can skip over. None of it is junk. Every word was written on paper by men but inspired by the Holy Spirit to reveal to us great truths about God, to draw us to him, and to transform our lives.

Every moment spent reading God's word is valuable. Every Bible study you participate in is worthwhile. Every sermon you hear can help you. (I really feel like I should qualify "Bible study" and "sermon" to eliminate those that aren't true to scripture. But isn't it a shame that we feel like we have to differentiate between biblical Bible study and non-biblical Bible study? Between biblical sermons and non-biblical sermons? Like my preaching professor said on the first day of "Biblical Preaching" class, "Is there really any other kind of preaching?")

I should treasure every word from God even more than I treasure the email and messages and calls from my family and friends. So should you. Anticipate hearing from God. Prepare to hear from God. Enjoy hearing from God. Apply what you hear from God.

That will help you deal with a lot of the junk that piles up in your life.