Infected

"You may be infected" is the subject of many junk emails I receive trying to sell me anti-virus software for my computer. For some reason when I saw one of those while clearing out my junk email, it took on a new meaning to me. I think it is true that I am infected. I'm talking about me, not my computer. I have anti-virus software on my computer that seems to work well. It keeps out the malicious programs that can potentially cause my computer to malfunction, or even crash.

Unfortunately, I am not so sure that my own personal anti-virus protection is all that good. I am exposed all day to malicious material that can infect my mind and cause all types of malfunctions, even to the point of physical malfunctions. I am exposed to false teaching, false promises, mis-representations, dysfunctional behaviour, etc. Some of these things I am exposed to just in the normal daily activities that I must perform to exist and contribute to this world. Others I expose myself to due to my own lack of self-control. For example, I've seen a few movies that contain material that contain profanity, blasphemy and glorify dysfunctional behavior. I don't need to see those.

The point is, I was very clearly infected, as I realized when I read the book Battlefield of the Mind, by Joyce Meyer. I was letting my mind focus on many harmful and false thoughts. It was poisoning me, and had been for many years. There were many sources of these thoughts, and those sources still exist. Some I can avoid, others I can not. So, how do I install and continually update my anti-virus protection so these infections don't take hold and make me malfunction? The answer for me is to memorize truths that are stated in the Holy Bible. These truths turn on the light, and cause the darkness of lies to disappear. I have to live in this world, but I must be careful that I don't become infected, then conformed to this world. I have to constantly renew my mind with God's truth, as it is articulated in the Holy Bible. Romans 12:2 makes this point fairly clear to me.

For an example, if someone does me an injustice, or they treat me in an evil manner, one of the first series of thoughts that grind through my mind is "how do I rectify this, do I get revenge to prevent this from happening again? Do I just let it go and try to pretend it doesn't matter?" These thoughts can grind on and on causing stress about the indecision about what to do, or not do.

Here is what the Bible says to not do:
Don't pay back evil for evil (Romans 12:17, 1 Thess 5:15)
Don't take revenge, God will do that (Romans 12:19, 1 Thess 4:6)
Here is what the Bible says to do:
Show love, pray for the person who mis-treated me (Matt 5:44, Romans 12:20)

So, with those truths firmly in my mind, every time thoughts of revenge or seeking justice start darkening my mind, I just turn on the light of these truths. The indecision, the concern over "what to do", and the related stress dissappears because I know I am following God's will and that He has the job of righting wrongs. I know it sounds so obvious, maybe I am just slow to learn, but actually putting this to practice every minute of every day is not natural for me. I get opportunities for infection almost every minute of every day, so I need 24/7 protection. As I memorize more truths (update my anti-virus database) and monitor everything I am seeing/hearing/thinking/feeling and evaluate it against the truth (enable real-time virus protection) I am finding that my mental state is steadily improving, and my ability to function is steadily improving.

I guess I should take a few hours (or days) to do a thorough scan and delete any malware that is detected. Maybe that is a good way for me to spend January 1, 2009.