Are you occasionally frustrated by one of those pesky computer viruses? You should be! These days you have to worry about content you download, websites you visit, and opening email attachments from unknown senders for fear you may be introducing a virus to your computer’s hard-drive that will cause all sorts of problems with the performance of your computer.
Similar to a computer virus that can damage the hard-drive, there's a deceptive and insidious virus that attacks our relationship with Christ... it’s pride. Even spiritually mature people can quickly succumb to the virus of pride as it roots itself deceptively and deeply into our hearts. However, there is a bit of good news... Jesus quickly detects and can quarantine this nasty spiritual virus and help us eradicate it from our mind and heart if we allow him unrestricted access to our hard-drives... our hearts.
If you own a computer and most of us do, then you’ve probably had to deal with a nasty virus. Maybe you neglected to update your virus protection software and one slipped into your computer undetected. You go to a lot of work to rid your computer of the virus and get it back to normal, but sometimes its just never quite the same. If you think about it, the stories, passages, counsel and instruction in the Bible are a lot like an anti-virus program designed to constantly scan for trouble and protect against prideful infections to our hearts. Computer viruses are nasty. Your computer is going along just fine, but there's this virus lurking in your system that you know nothing about. Everything seems fine and normal, and then, BOOM! All of sudden this virus leaps out and starts eating your files and writing over your hard-drive and rewriting registries. It can be a technological disaster for your computer.
Sin in our lives acts a lot like like a computer virus. You can be living your life following Jesus, trusting him, loving him and everything can seem fine on the surface. But there can be pockets of sin buried deep within your heart that you're not even aware of. This sin can suddenly rise up, fester into something large and foreboding and you find yourself feeling things and saying things and doing things that you can't believe you're feeling, saying, and doing. Sin can be just under the surface, often expressed in your slightly off center “viewpoints and attitudes” and can rise up and attack you just like a virus eats your computer’s hard-drive.
There's good news, though. God does not leave us defenseless in these situations. He's given us an anti-virus program... the Bible. If we will regularly scan our hearts with Scripture, submitting fully to the leading of the Holy Spirit, God will give us a warning—like those red warning letters you get on a computer when you've picked up a virus—and you can click "Destroy" or “Delete”.... or you can choose not to address the problem. The choice is always yours.
Think about it... you have in your possession the most powerful antidote to sin in the universe, freely available for your consumption... the Holy Word of God. It not only reveals our sins of pride, [pride is at the root of all sin] but it gives us the means by God's loving grace to destroy prideful sin deeply rooted in our hearts.
Through His Word the Bible, God speaks to us in plainly and the message is simple: Scan your heart with God's Word to find the sin that's there—the particularly devious and insidious sins of pride and let Him help you destroy them. In a computer, the hard-drive is the most critical component and that’s where viruses attack. In humans, it’s the heart... that’s our most critical component and where sin seeks to root itself deeply into our souls. There is much counsel in Scripture that seeks to get our attention on the matter of protecting the content of our hearts...
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Prov. 4:23
Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path. Prov. 23:19
But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. Matthew 15: 18-19
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Deuteronomy 4:9
Viruses, if left unchecked, can do nasty things to your computer and prideful sin rooted in the human heart can destroy your relationship with God.
