Holiness in the Digitized Realm

May the words of my mouth

and the meditation of my heart

and every keystroke, every click on my computers or any of my electronic devices

be pleasing to You, my Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed,

Nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.

May what I do in my digitized realm glorifies You.

May it be a worthy representation of who You are in my life!

Psalm 19:14, Luke 8:17

There are dedicated technologists whose full time job is to research how to add Ads to your web browser as you visit different web sites. There are dedicated online businesses whose profit models are to lure you to sin. There is so much online investment solely devoted to feed into our materialistic desires.

It shouldn’t take too much convincing. Haven’t you run into sites for the married but lonely, helping to set up secretive emotional affairs online? Or ads with women dressing skimpily that pop up in email sites readily to prey on men working alone in their offices or studies, especially late at night when their wives are sleeping? Or promotional emails we receive everyday in our in-boxes that lure us with colorful images to buy something with just one click, getting us to spend money we don’t actually have without even thinking? Let alone the online flirting, often with fake identities. The whole arena of online pornography is another topic in itself. The list never ends.

You don’t need to want to or premeditate to sin. It is made so easy that is hard to resist. Sin is packaged up for you with just one click away. Its appeals become a vortex of strong forces that suck us in, especially when we think no one is watching.

Be alert and of sober mind! The evil one surely prowls around looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8), deceiving you to believe that one innocent click, especially when no one knows, does no harm.

Wake up! Take each and every thought and click captive, and make them obedient to Christ! The truth is one click may be all it takes to start you on a slippery slope, eventually leading into moral disasters. There are too many famous examples to show the way.

May the prayer above be the prayer of all spiritual warriors who have to accept the digitized realm as a part of our lives.