Some technology experts believe that computer keyboards will become obsolete in the next few years as more and more functions become voice-activated. Instead of typing a letter to a friend, we will speak the words to a computer that will print them on paper or send them as e-mail. Voice-activation will so permeate daily life that instead of pressing buttons and twisting dials, we will give verbal instructions to everything from the television to the toaster. When we speak, it will be done.

Voice-activated devices are programmed to do what they are told. God could have made us that way, but instead He gave us the choice of whether or not we'll listen and obey.

James urged us to obey God every time He speaks to us through His Word. He wrote, "Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22). Self-deception comes when we listen to God's Word without doing what it says. We quickly forget what the Lord shows us about ourselves and wander along our way unchanged.

It is natural to want God to hear and answer us, but the greater issue is whether we listen and respond to Him. Does God have our attention today? Are we choosing to be voice-activated by every word from Him?   — David C. McCasland