Bjcorbin's Blog

Microsoft Helpdesk:  “This is the Microsoft Helpdesk, can I help you?”

Computer User:  “I sure hope so.  I just bought one of your computers last week, and now it’s not working for me.”

Helpdesk:  “Can you describe how it’s not working?”

User:  “Well, when I first hooked it up, it was fast and did everything I asked it to do.  But every day since then it seemed to get slower, and all of these things kept popping up on the screen.   Now I can’t seem to get anything to work.”

Helpdesk:  “Can you tell me what kind of anti-virus program you’re using?”

User:  “I’m not using any anti-virus program.  It’s a brand new computer, it shouldn’t have any viruses on it.  The salesman did try to sell me some sort of expensive software package, but I didn’t fall for that.”

Helpdesk:  (After a silent pause) “So how did you handle those things that kept popping onto the screen?”

User:  “I clicked on them, and if they looked suspicious, I deleted them.”

If you know anything about computers, and the internet, the scenario described above probably made you cringe.  In this day and age, you can hardly afford to connect anything to the internet without some form of protection, and everyone knows that you shouldn’t just click on “pop-ups” or e-mails from unknown addresses.  There are all sorts of things floating around cyberspace that can, and will, do harm to your system.  And most people try to be prudent about what they let into their domains.

Unfortunately, I’m not so sure that we exercise that same diligence with our thought life.  Like the internet, our minds can be crammed full of information, stimuli, ideas, experiences, opinions, memories…, which all have the potential to move us intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, and ultimately into some sort of action.  The power of our thoughts cannot be overstated.  The most heinous acts in human history began as a thought or idea in someone’s mind.  I recently read a story about a teenager who murdered a little girl in his neighborhood; and when he was questioned about his motive, he stated, “I just wanted to know what it would feel like to kill someone”.  I would suggest that this thought was like a pop-up, that just needed to be deleted upon arrival.  Instead, he decided to open it, and it eventually became a life altering reality.  While this example may seem extreme, I’ve watched “Christian” families destroyed by thoughts as simple as, “I wonder what my life would be like if I hadn’t married my spouse”, or “When is it my turn to have some fun?”

The Bible warns us to take every thought captive, and make it subject to Christ.  And it also says that we should test everything by the Holy Spirit.  Like a firewall, and anti-virus software, these principles are meant to protect our operating systems, so that we can be available for the eternal work of God’s Kingdom.  While we don’t always have control over what might pop-up on our screens, we have ultimate responsibility for what we choose to click on, and open.