Unplugging the Computer

 

We are not machines, we are people, people made in the image of God. For this reason I do my best to avoid illustrations that have to do with machines, for if we think of ourselves as machines or as technological phenomena, we will treat each other as machines. When we use language such as, “Today we are going to download what the Holy Spirit has for us,” I want to jump up and shout, “Flagrant foul! You are out of the game.”

When I was starting out in the business world we had Personnel Departments, then we had Human Resources, and now we have Human Assets or any number of other titles. We are no longer actual people, we are assets and resources and we exist to produce, to be utilized, and to then be thrown away. Maybe the powers that be will soon recycle us as fertilizer – no doubt there will be a debate as to whether agricultural producers will have to disclose this on their packaging. 

Now I’m going to violate my own rule by using a couple of electronic illustrations – fair warning. I’ll share one illustration in this post, and follow up with the second in another post. 

Our computer is old, I mean really old; at least ten years old. It is too old to load Windows 11, and since Microsoft is eliminating support, including security updates, for Windows 10 in a few months, we are going to need a new computer. The same thing happened to us when Microsoft terminated support for Windows 7. The rascals! Yes, I realize there are patches from third parties, but there are other reasons it’s time for a new computer. 

Our computer’s processor can’t handle things such as a new camera or external microphone, it slows down, it freezes, and it can be frustrating – but I suppose also sanctifying in terms of cultivating patience. Sometimes when it freezes there is only one solution, disconnect the power, unplug the offending peripheral, and reboot the system. 

Disconnecting the power means more than simply unplugging the cord, since this is a laptop, it also means removing the battery so there is a clean electrical break. 

Do you think it is possible that we all need a clean break from the electronic cocaine we imbibe throughout the day? 

How is it that professing Christians take their cues and set their agendas based on the things of this world? How is it that we are more familiar with news headlines than with God’s Word? How is it that we are more eager to conform ourselves to worldly political and economic and national and academic and entertainment and sports ideologies than we are to conform ourselves to the Word of God?

How is it that we will follow political and economic and sports and entertainment leaders, rather than follow Jesus?

How is it that we fail to recognize the inherent evil in the world system, including its economic and political and nationalistic systems?  

Does not John write, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world” (1 John 2:15 – 16, NASB).

Does not Jesus say concerning us, “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:16, NASB. See also John 15:18 – 21). 

I recently read that the national news broadcasts by the three major networks used to be only 15 minutes each evening. Can we imagine this? 15 minutes!

Now we are consumed by 24/7 news delivered myriad ways. Note that I did not write that we are consuming news 24/7, but that we are being consumed, for the consumers are now the consumed. We simply cannot allow the messages of the world to enter our souls and hearts and minds in such an overwhelming fashion and not be profoundly affected by them, not be formed into the images of the world system. It is one thing to be informed, it is another thing to be conformed. 

And let’s be clear about one thing, all news media have bias. Let’s also be clear that this is nothing new, it has been happening since Colonial times in our own nation. To think that one media group somehow presents the news in a purer fashion than its competitors is foolish, and it is particularly foolish for the son or daughter of God to think this for fallen man cannot, by his nature, discern the fulness of truth. 

I will also point out that while media group A may come closer to the truth in some things than media group B, in other areas media group B will likely come closer to the truth than group A. But isn’t this generally true of groups of humanity? Only in Jesus do we have consistency, only in Jesus do we have a sure and certain refuge. 

It is also foolish for professing Christians to think that any message, other than the Gospel of Jesus Christ, is the true Truth. 

It is as if we live in a prison with speakers on 24/7 telling us the same things over and over in various ways until our minds and hearts become products of the words and rhythms we subject ourselves to. We are transformed into creatures we were never meant to be, with ill will and anger and hard-heartedness and anxiety and vitriol and lying and spin and selfishness, with hearts grown cold and unfeeling toward others. 

Perhaps we need to unplug the computer, remove the battery, and take a break from the poison, perhaps we need detoxification. Perhaps we need to recenter ourselves in Jesus Christ and His Holy Word. Perhaps it’s time to return to Psalm 1 with its emphasis on meditating and delighting in the Word of God, day and night. 

O dear friends, the people around us do not need us to be advocates for political or economic or nationalistic philosophies and agendas, but they do need us to show them Jesus, to be a refuge from the wind and a shelter from the storm and streams of water in dry places (Isaiah 32:1 – 2). 

As our society and world engage in mutual assured destruction, let us fulfill our calling in Jesus Christ, showing Him to others and calling them into a deep relationship with Him. 

Who can you and I share Jesus with today?