It’s no surprise – mobile devices are here to stay.  So, this kind of practical entry may be one of the most helpful for us.

As the dangers of the internet grew, so did Christians’ awareness of internet safety programs like Safe Eyes and Covenant Eyes.  These programs have become more and more helpful and necessary for believers to remain pure and innocent (Romans 16:19) in this web-based world.

Now, with the explosion of mobile devices, it’s time for believers to become equally knowledgable and skillful concerning how to protect themselves on these devices.  Since I’m a Mac guy, the following information only pertains directly to Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch.  However, many of the same restriction settings are available on other mobile devices.

Before jumping into the practical instructions, let me quickly say that as you battle internet temptations and traps, you will need to “preach the gospel to yourself every day.”  On the one hand, without a continuing grasp of the love and grace of God in Christ Jesus, even your best “fences” will be powerless against the onslaught of sin and your flesh (cf. Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 1:16; Titus 2:11-12).  On the other hand, such a regularly-sought-after grasp on grace should be complemented by an earnest pursuit of holiness (Hebrews 12:14).  In this way, our salvation will be complete (cf. Philippians 2:12-13).  So, the instructions that follow are part of that pursuit of holiness, and are by no means a replacement for preaching the gospel to yourself.  Only a fervent and active relationship with Jesus Christ will give you the delight to continue your duty.

Some quick nuggets from chapter 2 of The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer.  The chapter is entitled, “The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing."

• In Eden, “things” were made for man’s use, but they were always to be external to the man and subservient to him.  In the deep heart of man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come.  Within him was God; without, a thousand gifts which God had showered upon him.
• There is within the human heart a tough, fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess….The pronouns my and mine look innocent enough in print, but their constant and universal use is significant.  They express the real nature of the old Adamic man better than a thousand volumes of theology could do. They are the verbal symptoms of our deep disease….Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God’s gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution.
• The chief characteristic of the self-life is its possessiveness; the words gain andprofit suggest this. To allow the enemy to live is, in the end, to lose everything. To repudiate it and gift up all for Christ’s sake is to lose nothing at last, but to preserve everything unto life eternal. (Matthew 16:25-26)
• The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing (Matt. 5:3).
• [Tozer uses Abraham as an illustration of letting go of all things, including Isaac, to possess God alone; he then states,] For Abraham, he had everything, but he possessed nothing….Things had been cast out forever. They had now become external to the man.
• There can be no doubt that this possessive clinging to things is one of the most harmful habits in life.
• Our gifts and talents should also be turned over to Him. They should be recognized for what they are–God’s loan to us.
• Whoever defends himself will have himself for his defense, and he will have no other. But let him come defenseless before the Lord and he will have for his defender no less than God Himself.
• Let him insist that God accept his all, that He take things out of his heart and Himself reign there in power….If he will become drastic enough, he can shorted the time of his travail from years to minutes and enter the good land long before his slower brethren who coddle their feelings and insist upon caution in their dealing with God.
• Father, please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival.

Earlier today a friend of mine from Wisconsin, Aaron Anderson, was tragically killed in a car accident.  His Christ-centered life and God-honoring testimony is commemorated by his pastor here.  Some of you may have known him.  He was only a few years younger than me, and had been a student at Maranatha for a time.  He had currently been living in Wisconsin and faithfully serving Jesus at Lakewood Baptist Church.

My heart breaks for his family and friends who are wrestling with God over this, and my heart leaps to consider the heavenly experiences Aaron is now enjoying.  I was reminded today that life is short and our ability to impact for Christ is extensive.  I was also reminded of a simple consideration from Psalm 116 that I had written in 2008 when a teacher in my Christian school in New Hampshire passed away from cancer.  For your encouragement, those thoughts are shared below.

Psalm 116:1-9 – I love the Lord, because He has heard My voice and my supplications.  Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.  The pains of death surrounded me, and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow.  Then I called upon the name of the Lord: 'O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!'  Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yes, our God is merciful.  The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me.  Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.  For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.  I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

These words were penned by one who had experienced the “Valley of the Shadow of Death.”  Here the Psalmist refers to a time in his life when he had stared death in the face.  He speaks of the “pains of death,” the “pangs of Sheol,” “trouble,” “sorrow,” of a time when he “was brought low,” of “tears” and “falling.”  And as the tentacles of lifelessness slowly began to wrap themselves around him, he had cried out unto the Lord to “deliver his soul” and grant him life.  And the Lord answered that prayer.  As in the case of Hezekiah, who, as he was lying upon his bed of illness gazing into the face of eternity, had asked God for more time and was rewarded with an extra 15 years of service, so the Psalmist was restored to health and wholeness.  Length of days was granted to him where death has seemed immanent.

This situation is well known to us.  Oftentimes, as a loved one is dying, the consistent prayer of a Christian is heard: “Lord, grant him healing; please allow him to live.”  Perhaps we have even ourselves tread through that dark valley and have cried to God for deliverance, and God, in His lovingkindness and faithfulness, often answers by granting recovery and salvation from physical death.  And, as we watch that loved one restored, we respond like the Psalmist: “I love you Lord; you are gracious, righteous, and merciful”—and well should we respond!

But what happens if God chooses to answer our request in a manner different from what we would like.  What if He chooses to withhold life in place of death and take the loved one home?  At that point, is God still gracious and merciful?  Does He care?

The Psalmist seems to have anticipated that question in this Psalm, and He gives us the answer in verse 15: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”  Precious—honorable, excellent, special—because the Father is able to further to a heavenly degree the work of grace begun in that life.  Precious—honorable, excellent, special—because the Son now sees the person for whom He died made perfect.  So, while we mourn and perhaps question God’s goodness, for God, it is only special when His children come home to Him.

When I was in elementary school, I had two older sisters who were in college.  As the Christmas and summer breaks drew near, I would be heard asking my parents over and over again, “When are they getting home?”  And when the day finally came, it was filled with such excitement—it was a special day.

We, too, are “pilgrims on a journey” going home.  There is no one who anticipates that heavenly family reunion more than our Heavenly Father and Savior.  And, so, from an earthly perspective, we pray for life and health, and it is often granted, and we conclude that life—God giving life—is good.  But often from the perspective of our loving, gracious, merciful, tender, and anticipating Father, death is good.  Yes, it is precious in His sight when His children come home to Him.

In light of those truths, our response should be similar to that of the Psalmist in verses 17-19 – "I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all His people, in the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!"

And so, let us “sorrow not even as others which have no hope” (I Thessalonians 4:13), but rather let us rejoice in the pleasure our Heavenly Father is enjoying as He communes in reunion with one of His children.  Let us remind ourselves that while loved ones who have passed “cannot return to us, we will go to them” and join in the precious family reunion above.  Thus, our hearts likewise break forth in thanksgiving to God and praise Him that “precious in [His sight] is the death of His saints.”