Conscientious Discipleship
by Lisa Coleman

In 2003 a Christian band called Switchfoot came out with a song called “This Is Your Life”.  The lyrics include a refrain: This is your life, are you who you want to be? I listened to the song recently and pondered those lyrics.

Who am I and who do I want to be? Who do I claim to be? If we look at individuals on social media, we see a profile of who they are (or wish to be perceived) through a series of posts, tweets, chats, and photos. Another way to identify ourselves is through our family associations. I am Joe’s granddaughter or Peggy’s daughter.

However, our cell phones might be a more telling snapshot of who we are and what we prioritize. Various emails, texts, searches, apps, and photos can offer a compelling gateway into our personal lives. Yet, I never realized that there is a surprising amount of information about us that is stored externally on the surfaces of our phones in addition to the internal contents.

A series of molecular swab tests conducted by scientists from the University of California at San Diego identified a series of traits about different cell phone users. They could tell things like the types of soaps, lotions, shampoo, make-up, food – such as vegetarian versus meat-eater or spicy foods – types of drinks, medications, even materials of clothing one uses according to Dr. Pieter Dorrestein, professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the university. He said they could tell if the person was likely female, uses high-end cosmetics, dyes her hair, drinks coffee, prefers beer over wine, likes spicy food, or is being treated for depression. Some of the swabs were able to trace molecular deposits that were even over a month old. The thinking is this type of data could help with criminal investigations, airport security and other institutions requiring identity verification. A profile of the lifestyle of a person can be created with this approach.

While social media makes it easy to put on a mask and we don’t always adopt our family’s values, our phones yield, perhaps, a more accurate picture. One could even go so far as to say it is our reality check. A peek behind the curtain. A pocket-sized conscience. There’s no hiding who we are with the internal profiles and external swabs at the ready to expose the real us.

Who are we? Who do we want to be? What do we stand for and what will we not stand for? Do we claim to be other than we actually are? What does our conscience tell us about who we are?

Paul tells us in the 23 chapter of Acts that he lived his life before God in all good conscience. He was who he wanted to be. Who was that? What was Paul talking about when he said his conscience was clear? Join us tomorrow in person or online and find out.

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You can download the Bible study materials for this session for your personal use and watch the Zoom video of the in-class session by following the links below: 

PowerPoint Slides
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