Code Read

Most of us are accustomed to barcodes on everything ranging from magazines and toasters to soup cans and bottled water. However, there’s a newer code that you see just about everywhere nowadays. These cube-shaped barcodes are called QR Codes. “QR” stands for Quick Response. They are specific matrix barcodes, readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and many smartphones. Interestingly, there’s a sign on the gas pump at our Walmart that says to put away your cell phone for fear that a static shock could ignite the gasoline fumes, and yet, they have QR codes on their advertisements attached to the pumps. I put my cell away and still get shocked when I see the price of gas. How ironic is that?

It’s pretty amazing how you can simply hold your phone up to a product as it scans the code and instantly have more information than you ever cared to know about that product. On an airplane recently, while waiting for takeoff, I thumbed through the Skymall magazine and noticed a QR code at the bottom of an ad for a handheld bug vacuum. (It pictured a woman holding a long vacuum device up to a wall and attempting to suck up an unsuspecting fly. Why this fly didn’t choose to fly away is beyond me, but that’s another story). I scanned the code with my phone, into an information portal that went well past the fly’s worst nightmare to Skymall and everything else.

It got me thinking…What if there was some type of people scanner that could give you all of the information on a person with one quick scan? Thoughts, secrets, desires, dreams… feelings of loneliness, pride, lust, jealously, and selfishness, …and that’s just the first layer. Feelings of regret, shame, fear, and hopelessness. What if that one scan could see right through the image and all the pretending, to the real you?

The fact is, there is such a thing. It’s not so much a “QR” code reader as it is a “YR” (You Reader). That’s right. You may read the Bible, but the Bible actually reads you. The Holy Spirit has the power to see the real you. The you beloved by God, and worth rescuing. In fact, rather than fear and self hatred, King David’s anchors were secure in God’s goodness. Psalm 139 describes the all-knowing power of God, to form us, see us, know us…and yet love us. That short Psalm which begins, “You have searched me O Lord and You know me…” goes on to later say, “How precious are Your thoughts toward me O God. How vast is the sum of them. If I were to count them they would outnumber the grains of sand.”

The app for that? Responding with worship and praise. However, it’s easy to slide into the place where personal responsibility replaces personal response to God. That’s a fear-based, nonstop treadmill. Been there, done that. You might say we’re to be a QR (Quick Response) reader of His word. It always starts and ends with Him, but involves our joyful obedience.

Stuff to remember:

Remember to invite folks to The Gathering. This week could literally be the connection, both to God, and to other people that they’ve been searching for. And our new series, “The Making of A Movement” is the perfect time to come and experience a movement in action. Here’s the new song we introduced last week.

If you have a QR reader…scan below.