"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He
was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the
Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then He
appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom
are still alive, though, some have fallen asleep. Then He appeared to
James, then to all the apostles." 1 Corinthians 15:3-7
My brother
Tom, a highly intelligent inventor and part-time philosopher, has called
the modern cell phone the "Swiss Army knife of technology."
By
that he means it can do a little bit of everything. It can give you
directions, show you the weather, send pictures, take video and, well, a
little bit of everything.
Oh, one other thing, they can also be
addictive.
Case in point: physicians are seeing people come in
with some interesting cell phone-related maladies. Some doctors have
seen dedicated smartphone use leading to repetitive stress injuries. Do
you like to text? If you do too much texting, your thumb's tendons can
constrict and you can end up with the injury called "texting thumb."
Recently, a California man, a fellow who is dedicated to the game
Candy Crush Saga, after more than six weeks of constant playing,
actually managed to rupture a tendon in his hand. You've got to love a
game a lot to create that kind of injury.
All of this is a
roundabout way to get to the biblical individual: James the Just.
This James was the brother of our Lord, an early convert to the
faith, a leader of the early church, and one of the first martyrs for
the faith. James should be known and respected for all of those
qualities ... and for one more.
The ancient church historian,
Eusebius tells us, "(St. James) was in the habit of entering alone into
the temple, and was frequently found upon his knees begging forgiveness
for the people, so that his knees became hard like those of a camel
...."
James' knees were callused because he spent so much time
kneeling in prayer.
Now, I just checked I don't have the
condition I've called, "prayer knees." You probably don't either, which,
I guess is a sign of where we're putting our priorities, isn't it? It's
a sad thing that so many of us feel naked if we don't have our cell
phones, but most of us don't feel the least bit strange when it come to
forgotten prayer.
This maybe means we need an adjustment in
attitude. We have a Savior who gave His life for our forgiveness and
salvation. For His gracious act we need to "thank and praise, serve and
obey Him."
And get down on our knees in faithful prayer.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, help me keep my priorities straight. Help me
invest my time in that which glorifies You. This I ask in the Savior's
Name. Amen.
Pastor Ken Klaus
Lutheran Hour Ministries
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