SPAM!
Have you ever heard of spam? No, I am not talking about the kind made by Hormel Foods that you eat. If you are technically savvy at allyou know what spam is. Most of us get more of it than we can stomach, again not talking about Hormel. Spam is junk that comes our way through electronic messaging systems. The most common form of spam is spam e mail. However, it is much broader than that alone. You can get instant messaging spam, web search spam, Mobile phone messaging spamand the list goes on.
Advertisers use spam to get their message to consumers. One of the reasons they do so is because it is a cheap way to communicate with you. About the only cost they have is keeping up their address list. I read today that the reason spam is so prevalent is that there is a very low “barrier to entry.” You know what that means? It means there is little that stands in the way of spam getting to you and in your mail box or on your phone etc. According to Wikipedia.org, the estimated figure for spam messages in 2011 will be around 7 trillion. 7 trillion spam messages a year! It is estimated that 80-85% of e mail sent today is spam or Unsolicited Bulk Email (UBE) as it is technically called. I also learned another new term. The person who sends out all that spam is called a “spammer.” There are also what is known as “Email harvesters.” Their job is to get as many e mail addresses as possible to provide to these spammers. The whole idea is that if they can get your e mail address, they can send you the messages they want to get out.
Yes, this all caused some serious reflection on my part. Not only is my e mail and my cell phone inundated with spam but my mind and my life is also. Satan is the Spam King, or King Spammer, of the Universe. He wants to fill my mind and my heart with unsolicited material. Think about it. He wants to fill your mind with thoughts that are contrary to what God wants in your life. If he can get you thinking his way insteadof God’s way he has you disabled. He does not have to bring you down or get you caught up in some heinous act of immorality. He just has to fill your life with spam so that God and Godly thoughts get crowded out.
If he gets you thinking angry thoughts about people in your life he can backflow love right out of your heart. If he can get you focused on frivolity and pleasure seeking then a desire to pursue God and holiness has no room in your mind. This is why Paul admonished us by saying, “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” Phil. 4:8 NLTIn another letter he makes the admonition even stronger. He says “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Cor. 10:5 NIV
That is exactly what spiritual spam does. It sets itself up against the knowledge of God.
Remember that Spam works with relative ease in our culture because there is such a low “barrier to entry?” There is a whole business empire built around finding filters for spam. That is what we need in our minds. We need to filter what we let in our minds and hearts. We do not need to think on every thought that comes into our head. Some of that stuff needs to be pushed out immediately upon entry. We let the wrong thoughts linger way to long. For many of us we think I know I do not need to let lust linger or impure thoughts linger. That is true but it is just as true that other, more subtle thoughts need to be filtered as well. When the religious crowd saw Jesus healing and forgiving a man and inwardly thought Jesus was being blasphemous because he said he could forgive sin it is written “Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, "Why do you have such evil thoughts in your hearts?” Matt. 9:4 NLT. That is a good question for us. Why are we thinking the thoughts we are thinking? Why do we let our minds go there? The next time you think insecure thoughts… the next time you feel jealous thoughts creeping into your head… the next time anger creeps into your heart… ask your self, Why am I thinking this way? Why am I going there? Am I just letting Satan fill my mind with spam? Cast down, cast out, those thoughtsand think what is pure and good. Again Paul said, “Fix your thoughts...” Phil.4:8 NLT Fix those thoughts don’t let them go unfiltered through your heart. Filter those thoughts.
Thought for the day:
I am not going to let unfiltered thoughts fill my mind today.
Prayer for today:
God help me to filter the things that come into my mind today and cast out all the spam that can send me off in the wrong direction.