Green Screens

My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil. (Proverbs 4:20-27 ESV). I remember the first computers we had years ago. They were “green screens,” also known as “dumb terminals.” Many businesses and other offices had them and usually they were never turned off. Over time they developed what is known as “burn-in.” Even after they were turned off, the main screen from the application, which was regularly used, was still visible. I’m told that this is caused when the exact same information is displayed on the screen for long periods of time until the terminal actually has this information "burned into" the glass. The advent of PCs changed all this. Because PCs are "intelligent," they can sense whether the user is using the computer or has fallen asleep due to slow response time. Once a preset time limit has passed, the computer begins to generate some activity on the screen that will keep the glass from ever being permanently burned in. This feature is called the Screen Saver. Originally the screen saver consisted of some randomly drawn lines or bouncing balls, but now we have everything from flying toasters, to Far Side cartoons, to personally designed messages for the rest of the office to read. You may not have realized it, but the human mind comes with a built-in screen saver. It is that internal mechanism that keeps us from being able to focus on any one thing for more that a few minutes at a time. It can even keep us from drawing close to God. You’ve seen it before: you sit down to read your Bible, then the next thing you know, your mind has wandered off to some randomly generated list of things to do or places to go, or the pastor starts his sermon, and after the preset 5 minute limit, your mind starts up the "I wonder what all these maps in the back of the Bible are for" screen saver, or even when you commit yourself to a time of prayer but your stomach starts to growl after the first few minutes. And so we frequently become distracted or lose our focus and miss what God is trying to say to us. Have you wondered why you cannot seem to feel confident about His will for your life? Perhaps it has to do with your innate screen savers or with your inability to focus on Christ, and Christ alone. Turn off those "screen savers," and allow the words of Christ to "burn in" to your life today.