If You Use Your Phone as an Alarm Clock

Jared Wilson offers an example most of us would do well to emulate:

Like many other fools, I use my phone for my alarm clock.

Picking up my phone before I’ve even sat upright or set my feet on the floor used to mean not just turning my alarm off but quickly and casually checking email, looking at my calendar appointments and obligations for the day, and even scrolling through social media apps.

For the longest time, this meant that even if my first task of the morning was time spent reading the Bible, I typically came to God’s Word with other words already occupying my mind.

The Holy Spirit was kind to convict me about whose words take first priority in my day. I still use my phone as my clock, but the very first thing I do after turning off the alarm in the morning, before I’ve even sat up, is open up one of my Bible apps and ponder whatever the Lord has for me that morning.

My substantive Bible study time will come later when I’m more fully awake, but I still want his words to be the first words I hear each day. This practice is not primarily a function of study, though it’s usually impossible not to think for a while on the passages I’m encountering in these moments. It is primarily a function of worship. I want my daily thoughts and affections to have their agenda set by God. And I want to bring this spirit of worship with me later when I dive into Bible study more deeply

—Jared C. Wilson, Gospel-Driven Ministry: An Introduction to the Calling and Work of a Pastor (Zondervan, 2021), 47–48.

 

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