Configure/Reconfigure

Configure means to set up or arrange something so it works in a particular way.

 

The last plane I flew as a Navy pilot was the S-3A Viking.  Built by Lockheed, it was a twin jet, carrier-based submarine hunter.  It carried a crew of four and its primary mission was to search, detect, track, localize, and sink Soviet submarines in order to protect the carrier group.  When the Soviet Union collapsed on December 26, 1991, the submarine threat disappeared, so the Navy had to find a new use for it.

 

Reconfigure means to change or adjust something that is already set up.

 

Since the S-3A was basically out of a job, the Navy came up with several new missions.  It was used to inflight refuel other planes, some were modified to carry cargo.  Others were changed to do electronic warfare.  Others were changed so they could fire missiles at land targets, such as radar and missile sites during both Gulf wars.  A lot of thought, planning, and design changes went to accomplish this, a wide variety.

 

The second article I wrote for this blog in December 2014 was “To Love and to Serve”.  In it I quoted a lesson I memorized in the first grade:

 

Who made you?

God made me.

Why did God make you?

To love and serve him in this life and be with him for eternity in the next.

 

In other words, God configured us to do just that.  Regardless of how we do it, how we worship and serve him, we are doing it in the way he designed us.

 

When Lockheed modified the S-3A for its new missions, not only did they make changes to the plane itself, but they also made changes to the software in its computer.

 

God designed our “software” to live, play, work, love and pray, all to accomplish that which he designed in us.

 

We frequently hear about hacking, invading a different computer and making changes to its software.  It may be just to steal someone’s money, or disrupt the function and operations of a company, to freeze a computer and then collect a ransom to unlock it, or even disrupt something major, like a utility.   The most common name for this is virus.  So other companies have designed software to detect and block these viruses.

 

There is also a hacker that attacks God and all of us.  He employs a wide variety of methods and helpers to try to succeed.  His “handle” is Satan and he is working 24/7 to try to infect us with his virus.  Obviously, he succeeds sometimes and turns us away from God as he reconfigures us to his ways.  The name of this virus is SIN.  When this happens, and it does, God does everything he can to re-reconfigure us back to him.  This is named FORGIVENESS.  And it brings us back.  By the way, God has a powerful antivirus.  He named it GRACE.  When we use it, we don’t get infected with SIN.

 

So, it is up to us, you and me, to stay in God’s configuration, to listen to his words, and use GRACE to protect us.

 

So, are you protecting yourself?  And on those times when Satan infects you, are you using FORGIVENESS to change?  God has a limitless supply.  So be sure to use it as often as you need it.  All you have to do is ask.