"Not in the Correct State"

Recently my computer slowed to a crawl, it was so slow that had I taken it for a walk a turtle could have out paced it. The culprit? AI. AI was eating up resources. Microsoft had installed AI during a weekly update without my permission – what else is new? 

Once I disabled AI things went back to normal, which for an old computer is not that good, but it gets the job done. I have deep concerns about AI, ethical concerns, and spiritual concerns, but this isn’t the piece in which to explore them. I’ll say this, if you don’t know who you are before you use AI, you certainly won’t find out who you are if you use it. In elements of AI we are abdicating our personhood formed in the image of God, we are exchanging the glory of God for a mess of gruel…a poor exchange I think. 

Lately a message has been frequently appearing after booting up and starting WORD: 

“The group or resource is not in the correct state to perform the requested operation.” 

When a computer is as old as ours you don’t like to see anything out of the norm because it could always be the BIG ONE, the problem that can’t be fixed, the car that breaks down on the side of the road that is destined for the junk yard. 

About 7 years ago our 1994 Ford Ranger pickup stopped running as I was driving it to the small engine shop to get 2-cycle oil. It was a 5-speed, sweet little vehicle. We had purchased it from Vickie’s brother Rod who had a small used-car dealership north of Des Moines. When we lived in Massachusetts, in the winter we’d put studded tires on it, throw firewood in the bed, and we could drive it anywhere in the snow. At the time of its breakdown, we drove it less than 300 miles a year, short trips to Lowes, Home Depot, and the dump were the extent of its use. As a practical matter it didn’t make sense to put any more money into the little truck, so we gave it to the young man who was operating the tow truck – he was quite happy. It was our pleasure to both give it away and to spare the pickup from the ignominy of the junk yard. 

“The group or resource is not in the correct state to perform the requested operation.” 

When I read these words on my computer screen I wonder if they are true about me. Am I in a place today where I can respond to the Holy Spirit? Am I in a state of being where I can be a blessing to others?

I am easily distracted. My own wants and needs and worries often deaden my sensitivity to our Lord Jesus and to others. There are times I go to the store, get what I want, begin the drive home and then realize that I didn’t pay attention to people while in the store. This shames me before our Lord Jesus, this ought not to be. There have been countless times when I’ve met people while shopping and have been able to encourage them, pray with them, and leave them with something to think about in Christ.

The same is true with our neighbors. Sometimes I am in a good state in which to be a blessing, and sometimes I’m too self-centered to respond to others in our Lord Jesus. 

In WWII allied bombers dropped strips of aluminum foil into the sky to confuse Axis radar, they called it chaff. I don’t know about you but I’m always dealing with chaff. Chaff confuses me, it distracts me from Jesus and people, it diverts my attention from things that matter. Talking heads scatter chaff. Advertising is chaff. Chaff is dispersed from Washington all the way down to the local level, from Hollywood, from Wall Street, and from many religious institutions. 

If we are going to avoid getting locked in on chaff we will do well to recall the Great Commandment:

“The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:29 – 31).

Then we have, “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12 – 13). 

And then, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). 

I think that in order to be in the correct state to respond to the Holy Spirit that we need to be in a state of loving God and others, a state of living for others, a state of laying our lives down for others. The shape of our lives is to be cruciform (Galatians 2:20; 6:14). 

I want to be responsive to the Holy Spirit throughout the day, I want to be drawn deeper into the fellowship of the Trinity with each breath I take. I want to keep learning and growing in Jesus and with my brothers and sisters.

What about you? 

Are we living in the correct state to perform the requested operation?