Trouble makers

All have sinned and fall short of God’s high standards (Romans 3:23).

Computer viruses don’t just happen; someone has to create them. And a computer virus isn’t easy to make; it has to be sophisticated enough to get past security programs undetected, replicate itself, and transmit those copies to other machines.

Why would someone go through all that effort? Computer hackers don’t get paid for their effort, and if they’re caught they can go to jail. So why bother designing a virus? For some, it’s the challenge—beating a security system gives them a sense of pride in their abilities. Others do it for a thrill—they get a rush from doing something that affects thousands of people around the world. Some might even be driven by revenge—attacking the computer system of some organization that they’re mad at. But regardless of motivation, every designer of a computer virus has one thing in common—they have no regard for others. They feel no guilt about causing aggravation, corrupting important files, or forcing people they don’t even know to spend time and money on repairing damaged systems.

Most of us don’t have the skills or knowledge to create a computer virus. But we are like these criminals in one respect—there are times when we say and do things that hurt other people, and it really doesn’t bother us. Sometimes we’re motivated by pride—we get way too competitive, because we want to show everyone that we’re the best. Other times we get so wrapped up in having fun that we don’t consider the consequences of our actions. And sometimes we feel hurt, and want to ease that pain by hurting someone else.

No matter how current your virus protection is, someone is always working on a way to get past it. It is human nature to say and do things that are destructive. Our bad behavior results in crime, war, and civil unrest. Yet no matter how many police, soldiers and judges we put on the payroll, they can’t stop us from hurting each other.

We need Jesus. We need Him to set limits on our behavior, and forgive us when we cross the line. We need His love in our hearts, so that we can show proper concern and respect for everyone around us. When you belong to Jesus, you don’t want to cause problems for others.