Unfortunately, I confess I have saved more documents than people. How about you? My computer often asks me, “Have you saved your work?” Couldn’t Microsoft Word pop up a more pertinent question box like, “Has your work saved you?” Or “Is your work worth saving?” Or better yet, “Forget your work. Have you saved your neighbor?”

My computer can convert files from one version to another, but it can’t convert Larry or Susan or Ali o Fu Sang. Before backups were so easy, I wept over lost data. We understand lost data, but do we grasp the implications of the term lost people?

The Bible guarantees, “If you search for me with all of your heart, all of your mind and with all of your Google, you will be saved” [Deut. 4:29 NIV (Nifty Internet Version)]. A lot of Christians have laid down the sword for the mouse. I myself have spent a lot of time searching the Internet. Searching, searching. Clicking, clicking. There is a lot of cool stuff out there. Why didn’t God say, “If you search for cool stuff, you will be saved?” Hmmm, maybe that was in a different gospel.

I wonder if Jesus would have owned a laptop. Certainly not a desktop, because He didn’t have a desk. But He did have a lap. Maybe if He had owned a computer He would have kept a database of all the people He healed, with some cool 3D pie charts breaking down the percentages of blind, lame, lepers, etc. With a little planning, He could have assigned Thomas or Peter to make short digital video clips of the actual moments of healing. Maybe that’s why Jesus needed 12 disciples—for several camera angles and IT support.

Surely at a minimum Jesus would have kept a database of contacts so He could send out a newsletter. I can hear Matthew saying, “Don’t forget. Every one of those healings is a potential supporter of this ministry.” If Jesus had owned a MacBook, surely He would have been a better Savior, with all the cool downloads and MP3 tunes to calm Him down, and I’m sure He would have had a few DVDs in his rummage sack for the disciples on the nights they just wanted to kick back and were out of wifi range. Don’t you think so?

Wouldn’t Jesus have been a better Christ if only He could have lived today? Oh, what Jesus could have done with a smart phone!

I don’t like the way that sounds. In fact that has to be wrong. Consider Abraham. He didn’t have a search engine or a mouse, yet he found the Lord. Amazing!

Jesus never said, “I was in need of web hits, and you clicked on Me.” If Jesus were talking to the disciples today, might He say, “Lay down your devices and follow Me?”

“And, dropping their gadgets, they followed Him.”

Meditate on this verse for 60 seconds: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters … why do you spend money on what is not bread and you labor on what does not satisfy?” (Isaiah 55:1,2)

Adventist Frontiers, July 2017, page 11.
www.afmonline.org

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