Hacking Your Life

Hacking

To be hacked is for someone/something to take unwanted control of your life, or things in your life.

No one ever wakes up and says “Man I want to be hacked.” People don’t ask for their lives to be taken over in small or large capacities. It usually happens because 1 small thing you don’t handle properly gives an opportunity to an outside force to seize control. You forget to log out on a public computer, you leave paperwork with your credit card number, you drop a bank deposit slip, you leave your car unlocked, you drop your wallet, you have too much to drink, you stay too late at someone’s apartment or dorm, you make one comment that goes too far, you fail to keep something confidential. Small slips in judgment, character, or integrity can leave your life wide open to be hacked.

Much like computer viruses it’s not just an accident when this stuff goes down, Satan (yes I know talking about the “devil” seems corny sometimes, but realizing you have opposition is important) is waiting for any opportunity he can to bring you down.

1 Peter 5:  8 Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

John 10:10a

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; 

Ephesians 4 we see the phrase do not give the devil a foothold

Instructions for Christian Living

 17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed.

 20 That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

 25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26 “In your anger do not sin”[d]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. 28 Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

 29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

We have to realize that God has gone through great lengths to draw us near to Him, love us, provide for us, bless us, and give us a future. Every time we choose willingly to include sin, or choices that are contrary to His will for our life, we are giving our enemy more and more chances to hack our life. I’m sure there are plenty of times “the enemy” doesn’t even have to do anything, we make enough poor choices on our own that we do the work for him.

If you’ve been literally hacked online, or financially or anything like that,  once it happens you get pretty determined not to let it happen again. You change your password, get more security, be more careful and deliberate with your actions. The same needs to be true for our spiritual and practical life. If you know there are common threats in your life that have a potential to attack you. Get rid of them, don’t keep them near and nurture them, or save them for a time when you might want them.

Hebrews 12

 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us

The life you have is a gift from God and He wants to make it thrive, don’t allow the choices you are making to take the life He’s given you be gift wrapped and delivered to someone who wants to destroy it.

The Resolute of Resolutions

New Years,  a time most people see as a milestone for fresh starts, or escaping the past year. Other’s look on in dread at the weight of what’s to come, some just see it as another day. One of the major traditions though is the concept of new years resolutions. People making plans of what they are determined to do this year that they didn’t the year before. New years resolutions are equally known for being dropped in a matter of weeks or days. Still self control, determination, focus, it’s better to try than not. Although sometimes we jump the gun in making a commitment of something we plan to do for an entire year.

James 4:13-17

 13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.

Scripture gives us a pretty clear reality check. We have no real perspective in order to plan out what we will do in a year. Think about how often you’ve made plans, and then things completely shift around them. Opportunities close, relationships end, we lose connection with others, sometimes we outright just change our minds. When we realize that God is the only one who knows where our lives will be tomorrow, let alone in a year it is a sobering thing. The great thing is though, our lives are in God’s hands, and that’s pretty much the best place they could be.

Proverbs 16

 1 To humans belong the plans of the heart, 

   but from the LORD comes the proper answer of the tongue.

 2 All a person’s ways seem pure to them, 

   but motives are weighed by the LORD.

 3 Commit to the LORD whatever you do, 

   and he will establish your plans.

 4 The LORD works out everything to its proper end— 

   even the wicked for a day of disaster.

 5 The LORD detests all the proud of heart. 

   Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

 6 Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; 

   through the fear of the LORD evil is avoided.

 7 When the LORD takes pleasure in anyone’s way, 

   he causes their enemies to make peace with them.

 8 Better a little with righteousness 

   than much gain with injustice.

 9 In their hearts humans plan their course, 

   but the LORD establishes their steps.

God wants us to have plans, he wants us to have desires, to make goals, to set resolutions, He even tells us in verse 3 that if we commit our plans to Him, He’ll establish them, make them much more real than on our own. Verse 9 is one of my all time favorite verses in that God tells us we plan our course, our resolution, or vision, but He establishes the steps.  The thing is so often we want to plan our course, and establish the steps ourselves, and that doesn’t work quite as well. It’s like we are trying to get somewhere with faulty directions and we either don’t arrive where we wanted or, we went through way too much trouble to get there. If we know that we have a goal, desire, or resolution we need to commit it to God, and be willing to allow Him to get us there. It may involve things that aren’t as convenient as we hope, or path’s we’d never intend to take. It may involve changes we don’t see coming. Rosa is 3 and for most of her life has been wearing footie pajamas, this year my mother in law got the whole family new pajamas, so rosa come’s running to me at bedtime "daddy, there's no feet on my pajamas...they are broke" . I tried to explain to her that most people don’t wear feet on their pajamas as they grow up, and that it’s part of the process. She looked pretty heart broken at the concept, but eventually sighed out an  “ok”. And finished getting ready for bed. Allowing God to establish your steps may very well take you through changes you don’t like, but it’s the best route to getting to the resolution you desire.

Make plans, have vision, strive, but don’t lose sight that all of our plans hinge on God’s plans and that we need to be willing to let him get us their in his own means.

Painful Line In The Sand

So often as christian’s we tip toe around the fact that what we believe does alienate us. We act like there’s no difference in who we are versus who they are, we act like that’s true, because it’s comforting, and because people wanna get along and avoid conflict. There are moment’s though when the  truth comes out, and backhand slaps us across, the face. Those moments are discouraging, and troubling. You seen “Thor?”, that moment when (Spoiler) Loki finds out he’s not actually Odin’s Son, but actually a frost giant. His whole world is ripped apart. That’s how it feels to me. The fact that you can love people that don’t believe as you do, you can be kind to them, you can befriend them, you can make them a part of your life, but when it comes down to it, there’s a 2,000 year old, 800 pound elephant in the room. That you stand on complete different sides of what’s truth, and what’s eternal. That the complete rejection of what you believe not only is a rejection of a belief system, but as you as a believer, and in the deity your worship. This is laid out in scripture constantly, but we look over it for the more warm fuzzy verses. My heart is heavy with this and honestly pretty discouraged by it. I wish things were easier, and more peacefull. That we could believe in a heaven that has no counterpart, that we believed in a God that saved regardless of whether or not you respond, that there were some all encompassing spirituality that states that whatever you wanna do is fine and it’ll all work out. That’s not the case though, maybe that’s something we really need to be reminded of, so that we aren’t living in a blind state of ignorance, ignoring the truth because the lie is easier to swallow. This isn’t an indictment on those who don’t believe, I understand not believing. It’s not always logical, it interferes with how you wanna live your life, believers faith at living and loving the way they are commanded. It’s easy to understand rejecting it, but the truth still remains that there is a wall there. It’s a wall that can be crossed, but it still divides.  We are commanded to love regardless, but if we forget the fact there is a difference, we get comfortable, we get lazy and complacent. Below are some of the scriptures that I guess I subconsciously ignore, and frequently need to be reminded of.

John 3: 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

Matthew 12:30

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

Matthew 10:34 “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn

   “‘a man against his father, 

   a daughter against her mother, 

a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law— 

   36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’[c]

   37 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

1 corinthians 1: 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

2 Corinthians 6: 14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial[b]? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?

John 15:  18 “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. 19 If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. 20Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’[b] If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. 21 They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin. 

James 4:  4 You adulterous people,[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.