Look Up From Your Screen To Love Your Neighbor - Tech Tuesday

This Spring I'm looking at the question "How can I prepare my child for a future filled with technology?"

Technology can distract us from the people around us. As I teach my child to love her neighbor, I need to teach her to see the people around her. To love her neighbor, she has to first look at her neighbor. 

Let's look at what Jesus said when he taught about loving your neighbor:

And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live."But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.' Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise." Luke 10:27-37 ESV

The Samaritan looked and had compassion. We want our children to be aware of their neighbors and show mercy. We want teach our children how to look for ways to have compassion and love their neighbors. 

Portable technology can get in the way of connecting with people and seeing their needs. Places that we can connect with people (such as standing in line or eating a meal) are now also places that we can be engrossed in our own screen. 

As we teach our children how to love their neighbor, we can also teach them how to use technology so that they don't miss seeing the needs of others around them.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 1 John 4:11 KJV

God loved us. This is the motivator to teach our children to love others. They do not need to do good works to earn salvation. God loves us, and in light of that, He tells us to love others.

Loving other people and caring for other people is something that God tells us to do a lot. It is important to God.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Philippians 2:4 ESV

So be imitators of God like beloved children, and walk in love even as Christ also loved us and delivered himself up for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet aromatic fragrance. Ephesians 5:1-2 WTJ*

For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another....And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment. 1 John 3:11, 23 KJV

Let us not be discouraged as we do the good, for in due season we shall harvest, provided we do not become exhausted. Therefore, as we have the season, let us work the good toward all, especially toward those who are of the household of the believing. Galatians 6:9-10 WTJ*

 A goal we can have for our children is to love their neighbor as then they grow up using technology in a healthy way. So that they can see and help when a stranger, friend, or family member has a need. 

Related Posts:

"How Do I Prepare My Child For A Future Filled With Technology?" 

5 Ways To Help Your Child To "Seek Peace and Pursue It" 

Living Deuteronomy 6:7 With a Smart Phone In My Hand  

Make Time To Think On God's Word 
"Growing Up Social" Resource Recommendation
Google The LORD Gives Wisdom
 
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*Working Translation: A Journey Through Acts and Epistles, Copyright © 2006 by Walter J. Cummins. All rights reserved.

©Brigette Hill, 2015