Beware of the Virus
My
personal computer was down recently. The screen was reading error in
C-Drive and the cursor was just blinking. The Window '95 operating
system that boots itself when you turn on the computer refused to
come up. The C-prompt was not responding either. However, I tried
many computer commands whether I can go through the disk operating
system to the program I wanted to work on. I typed in "CD WIN" and I
also tried "DIR", the computer wouldn't budge. All these computer
commands may seem irrelevant to you, no doubt, but at least it will
reveal my efforts to get the intelligent machine working again.
Unfortunately, all was a futile attempt. But little did I know that
God was teaching me an important lesson of life.
My
son returned from school the following day with an emergency boot
disk. He inserted the disk in the A-Drive. Suddenly, A-Prompt came
up and the cursor was blinking again. He typed EDIT C:\CONFIG.SYS.
The computer responded by listing out a set of files that had been
bad or corrupted and recommended that it should be removed and
replaced with new files. In order words, the computer is saying,
'before I can operate effectively, get rid of the dangerous 'aliens'
in the system first.' But that was all the disk could do, it could
not replace the corrupted files. The good intention of Microsoft
Incorporation is that the computer software will operate free of
troubles but the evil-incarnated hackers created virus programs that
become a thorn among the vine. Satan uses sin to mess up with the
sweet relationship of man with God and turn man into spiritual
nuisance in the presence of God.
About 2000 years ago, the Son of Man, Jesus Christ came to boot the
system of our spiritual life which had become stained, corrupted and
severe from the flow of wisdom of Almighty God since the exit of
Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. He diagnosed and revealed the
damages that sins had done to our life. He revealed to us the extent
of the love of God for us and how sin had been denying us His divine
blessings. He taught us a valuable lesson, "Abide in me and I in
you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in
the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye
are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same
bringeth forth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing. If a
man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch. . ." John
15:4-6 As virus is to a computer software so is sin to our
spiritual relationship with God. The presence of virus in the
computer will short-circuit the programs and the flow of information
will be disrupted. The same is way the presence of sin in our member
will be a clog in the wheel of our spiritual flow and blessing
because we cannot be wallowing in sin and expect the grace of God to
be abounded.
Prophet Isaiah, the servant of God, was so blunt concerning this, "Behold,
the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither his
ear heavy that it cannot hear but your iniquities (sins) have
separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face
from you that He will not hear." Isaiah 59:1-2 The ugly
and devastating experience of Israelites when Achan brought an
accursed thing into the camp of Israelites is enough to explain the
passage above. Achan brought this evil upon the Israelites against
the commandment of God. Consequently, the shield of protection was
removed from them, and a small city of Ai faced the Israelite in
battle and defeated them. Joshua inquired of God, why? God pointed
out their sins. "There is accursed thing in the midst of thee, O
Israel, thou canst not stand before thine enemies until ye take away
the accursed thing from among you" Joshua 7:13 The proposed
sacrifice of King Saul after the defeat of the Amalekites was
rejected because it was tainted with the sin of disobedience. I Sam.
15:10-23
Perhaps Adam and Eve thought it was a joke when God said the day you
eat of the fruit the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you will
die. They violated the law of God and the consequence was so heavy
and grieve - that day, they died spiritually. They were shown the
way out of the garden of Eden where they were living on what God
planted and provided for them. Outside the will of God there is
always pain and suffering. They were toiling and tilling the earth
for their daily bread. They were like a walking dead. The same goes
for the individual that is living in the flesh and yielding to the
devices of Satan, also for those who cannot deny the flesh to yield
to the will of God.
The
emergency boot disk cannot replace the damaged or corrupted files
but the Son of Man did not only boot our spiritual lives, he did not
only diagnose our sinfulness, but also provided himself as a
solution of complete and total deliverance from the power of sin
when He died for us on the cruel cross of Calvary. His precious
blood removed the deadly virus of sins from our lives and his
amazing grace replaced what the cankerworm of sins had eaten up in
our lives. The wise men that first tasted salvation at Pentecost
asked an important question, "Men and brethren, what shall we
do?" Peter answered, "Repent . . ." Acts 2:38 The Bible
says "Let the wicked forsake his way: and the unrighteous man his
thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord: and he will have mercy
upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." Isaiah
55:7 The door of His blessing may be closed while we are in
sins, but the window of His mercy will open when we ask God for
forgiveness. A genuine repentance will connect us back to God and
His grace will present us to God as a spotless bride as if we have
not sinned before. This simple but great obedience to God's
commandment will restore us to our former position before sin
entered our lives. We will now have direct access to the Throne of
Grace because we have been found justified. The open hands of God
are waiting for you to return. Think!
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For further information please contact any Bible Believing Church near you
or P. O Box 141, New York, NY 10163. E-mail:
mae@christlightbearers.com
English Tract No.13 (May 1998) written by: MAE
