We’ve gone analog at our church. At least for a few weeks.

What does that mean? Well, we’ve been asked to check our phones at the door (figuratively not literally) and bring our hardcopy bibles from which to read. We’ve left the projector in its case and have taken down the screen and are being asked to sing from a sheet in our bulletin — a physical, tactile, hold it in your hand mini-hymnal. And we’ve been asked to think about how the digital world might be impacting our spiritual world outside of Sunday morning. What’s it doing to being present with God? How about present with others? How is having our devices with us 24/7, which are vying constantly for attention, impacting our abiding? Considering our modern habits, we’re being asked to think about what we’re becoming. Hmm . . .

This morning, as I read the familiar story of Joseph in Potiphar’s house, a connection is made with what we’re being asked to think about on Sundays. After all, when we’re talking about habits, we’re talking about what happens day after day.

     Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. . . . How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.

     But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, she caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house.

(Genesis 39:6b-12 ESV)

Day after day . . . that’s the phrase that caught my attention. Those are the words that have me chewing on their implications.

Day after day, Joseph went to work. Day after day, he did what he did every day, he looked after all the people and operations associated with the house of his master, Potiphar, the captain of the guard. And, at some point, day after day Potiphar’s wife started tempting him, “Lie with me.” Get in bed with me. Become more intimate with me.

Day after day, she sent notifications. Day after day, she offered up enticing reels and pictures of what could be. Day after day she beckoned, drop what you’re doing and have a quick look at my latest post, my latest tweet, my latest video. It became routine. It became habitual. Day after day, Joseph got up, went to work, and she spoke to him. And, day after day, he would not listen to her.

But one day . . .

She grabbed him in a way she had not done before. Took hold of him as he’d never expected her to do before. Scared him as he had not been scared before as she drew him face-to-face. And what did Joseph do on that one day? He decided to cut and run . . . literally. He left his garment in her hands and fled the house. He knew he had to break the cycle of what was happening day after day.

Not many of us have a Potiphar’s wife so brazenly beckoning us to embrace her and sin against God. But most of us are daily within earshot of a siren’s voice, a voice which can be like that of the mythological woman whose singing lured unaware sailors to crash their ships on the rocks. The voice of our phones. Really helpful most of the time. Potentially dangerous some of the time. At the very least, tempting us too often to distraction. At her worst, tempting us to engage in things we know we shouldn’t be engaged with. More often than not, however, she’s simply habit forming as she calls out, “Lie with me” so that her handlers can monetize one of our most valuable resources, our attention.

Most days, we might be successful in refusing her day after day advances. But one day . . . One day, we may need to realize that she’s crossed the line, and that we need to take some decisive action — perhaps even flee.

A quote from our Sunday morning series stuck (I think it’s from a book by James K.A. Smith): Our habits shape what we love; What we love shapes what we worship; What we worship, over time, eventually shapes what we become.

Yeah, like Joseph, I need to be aware of, stand fast against, and maybe at some point even run from what’s going on day after day.

Only by God’s grace. Wanting to live for God’s glory.