The Devil In Disguise

Technology makes life easier. I can do more with my smart phone today than I could have done with my computer, cell phone, PDA, and camera combined from just a few years back.

Things get done easier, faster and with less thought with the help of technology. Technology informs us, teaches us, entertains us, and helps keep us informed with friends and the world. I couldn't calculate all the time and energy technology frees up. It certainly makes thing easier, even sin.

Those things we love about technology, the ease to get information and entertainment, the things we can share, the knowledge we can gain, can have a dark side. Because it wrapped up in a new style we might not recognize for what it is. It’s when Facebook makes us busybodies, Twitter is our place to boast, and Instagram a means to show our vanity. Our blog is our way to murmur and complain, our email to spread lies, the comment section is a place to spew hate. Youtube fills the lust of our eyes, EBay drives our greed, and Amazon our materialism. Any of those are not in themselves evil, but they can become a vehicle that drives our darker impulses. We may not see what we become when we interface with the technology.

Either online or in person, it can be easy to fool ourselves. To not see things for what they really are. To explain away our behavior. To think I am in control of it rather than it being in control of me. Maybe the anonymity becomes a mask that hides us from others and even ourselves

It isn't the technology however, it is us. I may be using it to sin but it is still the sin working in me. Don't let the new and shiny mask what is underneath. Look past the tech and see what it truly is. Online or offline, sin is still sin. Don’t think an insult on a wall is different than an angry word spoken or a lustful look at a picture is any different than a lustful look at a person. Sin corrupts and kills. From the ancient to the high tech, it is Satan’s weapon to make us fall.

Before you post, surf or tweet, think why am I doing this? Why am I using this, for good or evil, for self or for service? But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22)

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