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Begin by reading Hebrews 12:1-13
Being in the IT field, I’ve had people bring their PCs loaded with their problems to me for help. However, the problem I hate dealing with the most is a computer infected with a virus. Having similar experiences myself (before I converted to Mac), it can be the most annoying and difficult problem. Why? Well, depending on the virus, it can really affect the machine. It can cause it to do things involuntarily, keep it from connecting online to prevent you from solving the problem, it can slow down your computer to a crawl, and in general, it just makes your life miserable. Because viruses come out all the time, the anti-virus programs struggle to keep up with them. So, to solve the problem, you first have to find the virus and then hope the anti-virus is up-to-date enough to kill the problem. But depending on the virus, it can be tricky and could take hours to try to figure out if you’ve gotten everything. So, what’s the best solution? The best solution is to reinstall Windows and give your computer a fresh start. As annoying is it is to back up everything, reinstall the operating system, and reload all the programs, it’s amazing at how quickly the computer will run. I’ve had people tell me, “it’s like you gave me a brand new computer.”
This is a good analogy for our lives as Christians. Even in our redeemed state, we are always susceptible to the virus of sin. It can so easily creep into our hearts and cause our whole selves to malfunction. Once sin is in our hearts, our actions can follow suit. What’s inside eventually comes out. No matter how hard you try, sin just doesn’t stay bottled up.
In Romans 12:2, Paul tells us to be different, to renew our minds. Sometimes, we need a fresh start. If we’re really struggling with a particular sin, sometimes we need to get away. That getting away may be in the form of repentance; prayer, meditation, or fasting; encouragement from other believers; or perhaps counseling. We, in a sense, need to be rebooted. When God redeems us, He makes us a new creation. But until we reach heaven, we’re always going to be struggling with the temptations of sin.
In my job, I’m constantly telling people how viruses and spyware work and how to avoid them. “Be careful with what sites online you visit,” I explain. “And when something pops-up, don’t just click on it. In fact sometimes the button that says ‘close’ is a button that will deploy the spyware.” A lot of times, this helps the user from making the same mistake again.
Similarly, Paul tells us to rethink about ourselves. Because when we see ourselves as God’s redeemed, we begin to recognize the traps that Satan uses. We start seeing the places where we are susceptible to his snarls and start to avoid them. I think we will be shocked at what God can do through a creature who is committed to being a living sacrifice. When we’re not slowed down by the viruses of sin, we can run the race marked out for us.
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