I’m a technical kind of guy. Yes, I’m a tech guy who wears an analogue watch… I manage the AV elements of our performances, and all of my work for the ministry is computer related; more importantly, I enjoy being a tech guy.
However, as of late I have been in a technology rut. I suppose it all started when I had my uncle send me my Grandmother’s old Super Nintendo. After failed attempts for nearly a week, purchasing different cords and adapters, searching for solutions online, and just trying again and again different ways, I decided that technology was against me. Shortly following the Nintendo fail, I attempted to revert my laptop OS from Windows 10 to Windows 7. I use the word attempted because it erased my computer…
That’s when I was growing convinced that technology was against me. Not days after that incident I was in The Flash, (our van), and had set my phone in my lap. As I got out of The Flash, my leg slid the phone off the seat and onto the concrete. Needless to say, the screen shattered. Now, at this point, I was positive that technology was against me. What you do when you’re experiencing technical difficulty is called troubleshooting, which is what I did. But, what do you do when you’re experiencing spiritual, technical difficulties?
Well, here’s what I was reading this morning.
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
–Hebrews 4:1-2
I love this caution because it is a frightening reality that many people professing to be Christians, and even believing themselves to be, are not truly saved: for they heard the Word but had not faith. That would be a major technical difficulty. To have all of the right components: you go to a church, you go on visitation, you were baptized, you pray, you read the Bible, maybe you are even in a position of leadership in the Chuch. And to have all of the right connections: you are friends with the pastor, you have a Christian family heritage, you have a hand in missions work and have housed missionaries, you are married to a Christian spouse.
Well, the proper components, with the proper connections still doesn’t guarantee success, just like the Super Nintendo. It’s at this point that you have what I call a “near-Christ experience”, you get a shock or wake-up call of some kind and realize that you’re not living your life right. So, you reset, you wipe your own slate clean and start afresh. However, without the proper software installed after your reset, all you have left is an empty, useless, inoperable life. Like with my computer, the reason it failed to start up correctly after the reset was because something was missing.
Finally, even with the proper components and connections, and even with the correct software this formula still will not equal success automatically. There is one more thing we need to have before the device can operate as it was built to: brokenness. Only when something needs to be fixed do we really accept that it is broken. When it comes down to it, until my life was shattered and useless, I didn’t see anything wrong with it. But, sometimes it takes us truly being broken and useless to be made new. God can’t fix you if you don’t accept that you need to be fixed.
The wonderful thing about grace is that it doesn’t just fix us as we were, it changes us and makes us something new, something different, something better. When my phone screen shattered I realized I needed an upgrade. Not only was the upgrade new, it was also different than my previous phone, and it was definitely a huge improvement. However, change, especially change from God doesn’t come without cost. It cost me to upgrade, it cost me monitarily, but also required me to give up my old phone.
When God saves us, we change, we start to work as we were intended to, however, it costs us pain, it costs us our old life. We can’t have both the new and the old, one must leave for salvation to occur. It’s hard to find a problem if we don’t troubleshoot, if we don’t look for it. If you are experiencing spiritual, technical difficulties, always check the source first. All the connections, software, and components you could ever want can’t make a device work if the device is broken.
Without Christ we are broken beings, until we accept that, we can’t be free.
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
–Hebrews 4:1-2
The Word will not profit you if you do not mix it with faith. It’s hard to identify the problem if you don’t believe there is one. That’s why it’s good to regularly troubleshoot your life for issues. For this passage doesn’t only pertain to salvation, but also spiritual growth and revival. So, I leave you with this word:
Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
–2 Corinthians 13:5
As always, thanks for reading.
–the anonymous novelist
the anonymous novelist 