Our last computer at home (as a teen) was the latest and greatest Commodore 128- no little C64 for us (this was early 80’s). Oh, the games it could play- kept us amused for minutes at a time. J And it used the really big floppy disks that held much more information than tapes! Actually, one of my favorite games was called ‘Rags to Riches’ about a bum who needed to earn money to get a shave to get a job to afford a place to stay in order to go to school and earn bigger money- all while avoiding jail for vagrancy, robbers, and IRS agents.
Years later, as a young married couple, hubby and I bought our first new computer- at horrendous prices of course. It ran Dos operating system with Windows 3.1 if you wanted. It had the new ‘hard’ floppy drive which held even more information than the other, and it used a bigger hard drive at 510kb of information storage. ‘Who would ever need that much?’ we pondered? No laughing, but that computer only died about five years ago as we kept it for the older games we liked. Later, when we needed to upgrade the Ram to play the more complex games it cost us hundreds of dollars.
Flash forward to December of 2012. Our newest laptop has 6GB Ram, 750 GB hard drive, quad core blah, blah, blah. Seriously, who would have imagined an inexpensive computer being so impressive technologically wise. Computer technology has come so far from where it used to be, and is still advancing at exceptional rates. Of course, it’s great knowing that in a few months our newest machine will be like the Commodore of old!
Sometimes I feel a little bit like computer tech myself. Since I was first saved, I’ve come a long, loooong way. Not that I would have seen it back then, but I was judgmental, selfish with God, untrusting, Christian whose faith and obedience was conditional upon God doing what I wanted Him to do. I’ve repented of a lot of my old ways, and I certainly trust the Lord more than ever- no matter what happens in my life, but I now completely understand that there is always a lot more development to go. I can’t stay stagnant in my growth because stagnation causes rot and death. Instead, I’ve got to keep advancing- like technology- in order to be better utilized in the earth today.
I can’t keep looking back at achievements or regrets or it will hinder my forward motion. “…forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,” (Php. 3:13) We shouldn’t dwell on the past, constantly remembering the good and bad (Is. 43:18) or it will keep our focus off of the growth ahead of us that we need to reach for. We need to press toward (pursue) the maturity God wants for us (Php. 3:14 ) in Christ Jesus. It’s all about continued growth.
…and increasing in the knowledge of God; Col. 1:10
The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon
I did the planting, Apollos did the watering, but God kept everything growing. 1Cor. 3:6 ISV
…that your faith may continue to grow… 2Cor. 10:15 ISV
Be ye therefore perfect (complete in labour, growth, mental and moral character), even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. Mt. 5:48
There are some great parts of yesterday that are sometimes fun to remember, just like the old computers. But there are so many more interesting things ahead of us to look forward to. Just imagine… we get to keep changing (upgrading!) for the better, and if we do that, we will never become obsolete. With God, every day is new “…His mercies never fail. They are new every morning…” (Lam. 3:23 ,24 MKJV) We are all just little plants in God’s garden, growing in the Lord at different stages. Much better than technology- anyday!