Grace in Nature #3

   Okay, so todays blog is pushing the whole "Grace in Nature" idea a bit far, I know. But, in the word's of the Apostle Paul, "bear with me in a little foolishness."!


   Two weeks prior to my writing of this blog, my laptop experienced some major problems. It all started one sunny day with a message flashing on the screen.
   "AVG: Threat Detected, Trojan...........
     Remove to Vault? Or Destroy?"
  Knowing how much anti-virus programs love to scare monger, I sent the "threat", or "infection", to the dingy and damp hole in the C-Drive which is known, rather melodramatically, as "the vault". I thought no more of the whole issue. Until, one day later.....
    "This program has been closed. Risk of memory damage."
   Annoying, but again I didn't panic. Until, the following evening.....
    "Windows Host Services has been forced to close."
   And then....
     "AVG: Multiple threats detected, Trojan......"
   Of course, being male, I attempted to fix a problem that I neither knew or understood. My efforts fell far far short. So, instead of seeking out assistance, I ignored the problem, hoping that it would eventually go away. I was content to push any "threats" or "infections" into the vault, where I would ignore them, not thinking about the source or cause of all the issues.
    Rapidly things got worse, soon firefox was failing even to open, more and more messages from AVG and Microsoft were appearing: memory failure, multiple infected files, trojan..., Host Services failing, safe mode etc etc etc.
    Finally I realised the extent of the issue. So, I let my mate Graeme do his magic with the laptop. Unfortunately his efforts, although brave and much more thorough than my own, were too little, too late. The damage had been done. After inquiring of various experts and "dealers" whom I am aquatinted with, I was informed that my only remaining option was to entirely wipe the disc, leaving nothing behind, but destroying the virus in the process.
     Unfortunately I foolishly thought that I could continue to muddle through- even though I was told that my laptop's emergency restore system would do all the work for me!  But, eventually, there came a point whereby I acknowledged what I needed to do (albeit after the screen had totally snowed out and nothing would work!).
    I turned to the system that had been put in place for this very situation: Vista Backup and Restore. I pressed the highlighted buttons and then Vista took the whole thing over. The whole laptop was wiped and restored to its original factory settings. The viruses were gone, along with all my "baggage" (programs, files, pictures, documents: Megabytes upon megabytes of rubbish that I never use or need, that had clogged up my computer and slowed down the system.). It was as if the laptop had a new lease of "life"! It was brand new again.

     So, maybe you are struggling to see the "Grace in Nature" link here? My apologies, maybe "Grace in Technology" would be more applicable! Allow me to unravel the metaphor here for a moment:

    A virus had somehow gained access to my laptop. My igoogle dictionary defines a virus as

  Something that poisons one's soul or mind

   I think that a virus is to a computer what sin is to a man. Everyone sins, and sin is a virus. The prophet Daniel said:

All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him.

    I ignored the virus, thinking that dealing with it would be such a hassle and annoyance. I allowed it to grow, slowly eating away at Window Vista's functions and programming. Perhaps my metaphor falls short here; in our lives we also ignore sin due to the disruption destroying it would cause, but we also like the sins in our lives- we treasure them (which certainly cannot be said for a computer virus!) Even though they eat away at us, slowly poisoning our minds and souls, we still secretly relish them and hate the thought of "putting them to death". The early Puritans saw the wickedness of sin, here are just a few of the books written by them on the subject:
  The Sinfulness of Sin
  The Mischief of Sin
  The Anatomy of Secret Sins
  The Evil of Evils or The Exceeding Sinfulness of Sin
  In his book "Respectable Sins" Jerry Bridges quotes from "The Sinfulness of Sin", and he says that in only a few pages the author managed to describe sin as vile, ugly, odious, malignant, pestilent, pernicious, hideous, spiteful, poisonous, virulent, villainous, abominable and deadly. Thats quite a list! Isn't it time that we saw sin for what it is?
   As I ignored my Vaio's virus, it grew more and more, affecting my internet browsers capabilities, and scuppering "Windows Host Services" (which, incidentally, is quite important!). Likewise, sin is described as "virulent". My igoogle dictionary describes that as:

Capable of causing disease by breaking down protective mechanisms of the host. Intensely irritating, obnoxious, or harsh.

You can see the connection? Sin, like a computer virus, slowly dulls our consciences and tweeks at our ethics. Eventually we are totally compromised.
   However many "good" programs or files we upload to our laptops, the virus cannot be contained or "overshadowed". It continues to grow. I attempted to install a number of anti-virus systems, but the damage had already been done. Likewise, trying to work our way out of sin is bound to fail. Self-help is no help at all.
    The good news is this: a full disc wipe will destroy sin. The catch? We cannot hang on to any "little" or "respectable" sins. Jesus demands it all. Sins is a cancer, none can be left- for our own good! The Lord Jesus Christ died on a cross, to bear the punishment and wrath for his peoples sins, so that they may be wiped clean.

As far as the east is from the west, 

so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

    My metaphor certainly fails at this point! Because the Lord does not only (if I can use the word "only" here!) wipe our sins. But he also gives us his own righteousness. We are perfect and complete in the sight of God! When he looks at us, he doesn't see our record of failures and embarrassments and bad thoughts, no: rather he sees Jesus! How marvelous, how wonderful! Hallelujah!
   You know, all the time the virus was on my computer, I had the solution right under my nose, Vista did it all for me, I just clicked the "start" button. The solution to our sin is free. There is no annual subscription charge to this particular software! The Lord has paid the full price, he died and rose from the dead, the payment is made, the debt is gone.
   Does this mean that we are free to sin? Absolutely not! Why would anyone download a virus onto a clean disc? God has saved us from our sin, we love him, praise him, and wish to live a life that brings glory and honour to him.

   

    Let me leave you with a couple of awe-inspiring verses of scripture...

Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,

and whose sins are covered;

  blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.

This is how God showed his love among us: he sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.