Ctrl-Alt-Del
- Aug 17, 2016
- 5 min read
Remember a few years back when computers would freeze and lock up on you and you had to press three buttons simultaneously that were positioned so awkwardly on the keyboard you needed really two hands or longer fingers to reach them? “CTRL-ALT-DEL”
Many days I sat at my desktop feverishly typing away at some blog or devotional, my computer freezing at that critical moment when I typed at least 5 or 6 paragraphs. You could hear wailing and gnashing of teeth because I had to press the CTRL-ALT-DEL buttons and I would loose everything I just worked on, but it was the only way to get the computer to re-start.
Let me give you a little rundown of the CTRL-ALT-DEL buttons and how they relate to our walk with Christ. Computers have pretty much become a necessity, not a luxury anymore. Ctrl-Alt-Del are keys found on mostly every computer keyboard; except Macs. They’re different; they don’t have an ALT key, only Command. Just like an Apple product not to give you an alternative, just command you take what they give you. But I digress…plus I’m an Apple geek anyway so I obey.
These keys are called ironically “function” keys; keys used as quick ways or shortcuts to perform tasks or functions on the computer. They make using it quicker and easier. These particular keys, when used together, will restart your computer from scratch; it will shut it down then “re-boot” it all over again. If your computer freezes and you can’t get it to work correctly…press CTRL-ALT-DEL. If your computer runs slow and gets stuck…press CTRL-ALT-DEL. If you’re going down the wrong path, your life is a complete mess, you’re circling the drain…press CTRL-ALT-DEL. Oh, but wait...my mistake, we don’t have those function keys in real life. Or do we?
Sometimes we need to press the same keys in our own lives. We need to let God take CONTROL of our lives; we need to find an ALTERNATIVE to the current destructive lifestyle we lead, and DELETE the things in our lives that causes us to walk away from God.
How do we take control of our lives?
That’s just it…we don’t! We shouldn’t be in control of our lives at all, that’s God’s place. We give the reins to God and let Him corral us in and tame us. We were already in control of our lives, which is why we’re pounding on those function keys so hard trying to re-boot and re-start our lives. Giving God total control means to verbally confess with your mouth that you’re no longer in the driver’s seat and that God will direct each and every step of your life. Each and every facet of your faith.
It means that you have committed, by confession, that you agree to allow God to direct you in His will, not your own. It also means that you agree to follow His direction whole-heartedly and with joy. Let me type that again…with JOY! What’s the point in relinquishing control when you’re going to have an attitude about it?
Pressing that first function key of CONTROL is your first step. You can’t have a life re-boot or restart without that KEY that serves a vital FUNCTION. Control must be given to the One that already knows your past, present and future. A life decision has to be made. It has to be on purpose, to have a purpose-driven life. Not a life that lives for the moment or that makes life choices based on a roll of the dice. We only have one life to live, why not trust it to the One that gave you that life in the first place.
How can we choose alternative paths for our lives?
You have to press the ALT key, which is short for ALTERNATIVE. Because I’m such a geek, I learned the ALT key on a keyboard when pressed at the same time as another key, gives the other key an alternative function. How many times have we cried out to God that we desperately needed an alternative to the path that WE have chosen for ourselves? Whatever path you have chosen for your life – no matter how long ago you’ve chosen that path – no matter how much of a dead end that path leads to…there is an alternative! There is another way…”Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” John 14:6 There IS an Alternative and that is Jesus Christ!
What do I need to do to delete the negative in our lives?
Delete that spirit of bad habits. Delete that spirit of negative thoughts. Delete that spirit of toxic relationships. Delete that spirit of low self-esteem. Delete that spirit of jealousy. Delete that spirit of saying I CAN’T and start believing, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 The re-boot process simply cannot work unless you press that 3rd function key. We all know there is significance in the number of three and so it is fitting that all three-function keys must be pressed in order for God to re-boot your life. All of the giving of CONTROL to God and pursuing an ALTERNATIVE to a toxic path in life means nothing if you don’t press DELETE and send all that garbage to the Trash bin…and then DELETE it from there again to make sure it’s purged from your mind, body & soul.
How do you begin that critical All Life Systems Re-Boot?
Get in the Word…and stay there! God’s word is our Owner’s Manual.
His powerful and proven Word shows us what will happen when we place God in CONTROL…look at Esther who had NO control over her circumstances of being taken by force to the King’s palace, but she gave control of her destiny to God and look how He was able to work through her.
His powerful and proven Word shows us when He gave an ALTERNATIVE to a destructive path…look at Saul (later named Paul) who based his life on the teachings of persecuting and killing Christians wherever he found them. God literally changed his path on the road to Damascus and now Paul is considered one of the most important figures in the apostolic age. Not because of his killings of Christians but because of his evangelism of spreading to the known world, the same Christianity he once held malice for.
His proven and powerful Word shows us when God DELETED our sins on the cross through His son Jesus Christ by His redeeming blood.
Remember when I touched on Apple computers not having the ALT key, but Command buttons…don’t forget to press those too. The re-boot process also calls for us to obey the COMMANDS our Father gave us in his Word...we all remember what happened to Adam & Eve when they didn’t obey that Command. Cast out of the Garden of Eden because of an Apple…and it wasn’t even a Mac.
© 2016, Tracy Spence-Banks. All rights reserved. No republication of this material, in any form or medium, is permitted without expressed permission of the author. House of SOMS™ and SOMSistahs™ is a registered trademark of Traysea Publications.
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