Living an Algorithm

Facebook and YouTube and all of the on-line ads that annoy you to no end are following an algorithm. I think we all know this by now. When I search for a pair of shoes, all the ads I see for months have to do with shoes. If I watch Beth Moore clips on YouTube, then YouTube will offer up more Moore clips. The algorithm picks up on your tastes, your likes, your interests.

Our spiritual lives are like that.

If I spend time reading the Word of God and praying, I want to watch Beth Moore videos and listen to Christian music and talk to God.

When my Bible collects dust and I neglect my relationship with God, then my YouTube home screen is more dicey and less Moore.

James 1:21-23 says, "Therefore, putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror."

That passage is often used to teach us to do what the Word says, and that is true. But in order to do it, you need to read it. Philippians 2:16 tells us to hold fast the Word of God.

An Indian proverb tells a story of a man with a white dog and a black dog. Have you heard it? The man pits the dogs against each other and takes bets on which will win, and he always cleans up. One day someone asks him how he always knows which one will win. He says, "The one that wins is the one I fed this week."

That story is from a pre-Internet era. But you interact with the modern equivalent every day. Which dog is winning? What is your algorithm picking up?