“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.” (Deuteronomy 7:9)
Isn’t it a shame that we have to share Christmas this year with doubts about just what Y2K is going to do to us? Our families and friends shouldn’t have to compete for our attention at Christmas, but the spin meisters made sure that something else gets to dance in our heads this Christmas besides visions of sugarplums.
How should Christians respond to Y2K? Should we really be laying up food stores and converting our cash into gold, or should we just place our trust in God and move on with our lives? Most of us would probably agree that the appropriate response is somewhere in the middle.
Today’s computers impact our lives much like crabgrass affects our yards. They seem to hold the world together. In fact, it’s hard to think of anything these days that doesn’t depend in some way on the computer. That’s why it is so important for all of this artificial intelligence to recognize January 1st as the year 2000 and not 1900. What makes it scary is we know that there will be problems. We just don’t know the extent of them, at least, not yet.
I can tell you one thing that’s probably not going to work very well on January 1: the telephone. But I’m not going to panic. I remember how difficult it was this past September to check up on my family back in North Carolina after Hurricane Floyd passed through my hometown. I tried for days, but too many callers had the same idea and Ma Bell just couldn’t handle the traffic. You can bet she’s not ready for all of us who are going to pick up our phones just after midnight to see if they are still working.
I tend to agree with the Kiplinger Washington Newsletter, which recently advised its readers: “Don’t fall for gloom-and-doom talk about Year 2000 computer bugs. Sure there will be some foul ups and disruptions, but not widespread chaos threatening to paralyze our economy and throw business for a loop. Take such stories with a grain of salt.”
What scares me most about Y2K is not the minor inconveniences that we are sure to experience. What’s scary about Y2K is how Christians are already responding to it. Why I can almost hear Jesus now, “O ye of little faith…”
The truth is Y2k provides us with the opportunity to model how to live by faith and not by sight. In other words, if we really believe in God, then we also must believe what he says. The New Living Translation puts it this way: “And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you?” (Matthew 6:30)
The bottom line about Y2k is this: Sensible and reasonable preparation is not a lack of faith. The Bible is full of stories that encourage us to prepare for the unexpected. It’s the fear and panic about what tomorrow will bring that says something about our faith.
So prepare sensibly for what Y2K may bring and trust God for the rest. Remember his Word this New Year’s Eve: “It is better to trust the Lord than to put confidence in people.” (Psalms 118:8)
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