Bugs

“Honor God with your bodies” (I Corinthians 6:20)

My father-in-law was one of the earliest computer programmers for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.  The computer he worked on was a Univac, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer application produced in America.  Launched in 1951, the entire computer had to be housed in one large room that was entirely encased in glass.  The room was sealed airtight.  The reason for that was to keep flies and bugs from invading the sealed room.  Simply put, back in those days any insect that would penetrate any of the Univac’s mechanisms would completely shut it down.  That was the origin of the term “computer bug”.  I have often wondered what dad would think of all the handheld devices we have today.   

The apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 6:19, “don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God.”  That tells us that we have a responsibility before God to take care of our temples.  But that care goes far beyond the physical realm.  Yes, we need to get check-ups from our doctor.  And of course, we need to follow their instructions.  But God gives us some specific instructions for our body beyond the physical realm also.  I’m talking about the care of the mental and emotional health of our temple. 

God entrusts us with specific medicine and exercises to keep our emotional and mental health strong and protected.  He tells us about the benefits of godliness (I Timothy 4:8).  He admonishes us to protect our minds (Romans 12:2).  He tells us how to calm our anxious minds (Philippians 4:6-7).  He teaches us the way to deal with anger (Ephesians 4:26-27) 

But God also advises us to not allow people to harm our temple with their hatred, lies, and deceit.  At times those things can do some of the greatest damage to the emotional and mental aspects of our temples.  When we experience ungodly deeds, words, and behavior from others, we are to overcome them with the good that God’s Spirit has placed in us. (Romans 12:21).  We are also given very helpful truth about how to handle someone who is divisive, disagreeable, angry, and bitter.  Someone who wants you to be as miserable as they are.  For those people, we are admonished to give them a first and second warning.  After that, have nothing to do with them. (Titus 3:10)

There are sadly some people in this world who are ready to pounce on us and rob us of the health the Lord wants our temples to be filled with.  They try to manipulate our minds with negative and divisive thoughts.  They try to upset the emotional and mental well-being of our temple.  Those are the individuals we need to simply walk away from.  Not because we want to teach them a lesson.  But because we have learned the lesson of how to keep the bugs out of our temple.

                                                       Darlene