In the first epistle to Timothy, Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, wrote concerning the ways that women were foolishly wasting their time. Today, if he was writing, might he say that enemy was the smart phone, social media, the internet, and computers? “But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry; Having damnation, because they have cast off their first faith. And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully” (1 Timothy 5:11-14). That was specifically addressed to young widows, but the actions Paul denounces would seem to be wrong for any woman of any age, in any tepoch of history. Plus Paul gives the better way for a woman to invest her time – bearing children and guiding the house. God has gifted women for this critical role of eternal consequence.
May I ask: Does this describe you? Have you cast off your first priority? Do you find time for your phone, social media, You Tube videos (just for education, of course!) but are lacking in personal Bible reading and prayer each day? This is easy to test. You know how much time you spend reading your Bible a day, and your devices track how much time you spend on them. How do they compare? Twice as much in the Word? Half as much? None?
These young widows had another problem. They had learned to be idle because they had time to go to other people’s homes to sit around talking and gossiping. Today, we don’t have to leave our homes to do this. It is in the palm of our hands with our phones. But we can do the exact thing and often do. We justify it by saying: it won’t take long, we need to decompress and that helps us (where best should we turn for that?), we think about how we give and give and give and just need a bit of time for ourselves (how many times did you pick up your phone and hang out on it?).
The time on the phone/social media/internet often steals time that is needed to “guide the house.” Guiding the house would involve household duties like meal planning, prep and clean up, grocery shopping and errands, cleaning, laundry, and gardening. For homeschoolers, it would include homeschooling. Are you keeping up there or behind?
Have you been having a conversation with someone and hear a little noise on their phone or just see them glance down? What usually happens? Do they disengage from the conversation for a moment, acting as if they aren’t, but you can tell they aren’t with you as they look at their phone? How often do you do that to your children? They see it. Don’t you want to be fully present in their lives when they are communicating with you? What kind of example do you want to set for them?
Sisters, I plead with you: guard your first priority. Don’t spend time on your phone, if you aren’t spending time in the Word and in prayer! Your time and attention is also precious to your family. Don’t rob your family of your time and attention on them by what you do on your phone or by letting its notifications interrupt (silence them)! Don’t deprive your family of an organized home with healthy meals because you want to do what you want to do on your phone. That phone/social media/internet is not your first love. Jesus Christ is to have that place and behind Him comes your family. For you to keep that the reality of your life, you have to stand against the tide of life as it is happening in 2026, just like those young widows had to stand against the tide of their lives when I Timothy was written.