“My laptop screen is frozen, and I can’t do anything.” Lynne is fairly computer savvy, but occasionally, I get called in for assistance. This was one of those occasions. I had the good fortune of working at Hewlett-Packard for a number of years, not as an employee but as a security supervisor. I know guys, and so I’m a step above most people my age. I gave her the when-all-else-fails advice. “Hit control, alt, delete.” Problem solved.

If only life were that simple. Hit three keys simultaneously, and life is reset and back in working order. Actually, there is a “ctrl-alt-delete” in the spiritual realm. To understand it, we must first look at how these computer keys function.

A Google search provides this explanation of the computer keys. “The Control (Ctrl) key is often used with other keys to perform keyboard shortcuts.” The Alt key on a computer keyboard “is a modifier key that changes the function of other pressed keys.” The delete key on a keyboard “removes characters to the right of the cursor or deletes the currently-selected object in GUI mode.” GUI mode on a computer “refers to the Graphical User Interface mode, which means the user interacts with the system using visual elements like icons, menus, and windows, typically operated with a mouse, rather than typing text commands in a command-line interface.” That was far more tech info than I needed to know.

The first key I press is “control.” I surrender control of my life to my God and Father in Heaven. When I surrender my life to my Heavenly Father, He will give me to the Son, King Jesus, to Whom He has given all things. “Now in putting everything in subjection to Him (Jesus), He left nothing outside His control” (Hebrews 2:8 ESV, parentheses mine). Now, as I have surrendered control of my life to King Jesus, I experience what the Apostle Paul learned about a surrendered life. “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died” (2 Corinthians 5:14 ESV).

Holding the “control” key down, I press the “alt” key. On the keyboard, it “changes the other functions,” which is what the Holy Spirit does in my life. Through His indwelling presence, He “alters” my behavior and “changes my function” from sinner to saint. Instead of the “works of the flesh” (Galatians 5:19-21), the Holy Spirit develops spiritual fruit in my life. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh (read: "alt”) with its passions and desires" (Galatians 5:22-24 ESV, parentheses mine).

Holding the “control” and “alt” keys, I press the “delete” key down, which removes the unwanted stuff — the sin that so easily entangles us. “He (God) does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove (read: "delete”) our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:10-12 ESV, parentheses mine).

Just as you need three fingers to press all three keys, “ctrl-alt-delete,” so do all three persons of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Spirit, press down on our lives to control our lives, alter our function, and delete the sin that entangles us. Do you need a reset today, my brother? Ask the Lord to do His heavenly “control-alt-delete” in your life today, and your GUI will become a Godly User Interface!

What say ye, Man of Valor?

Semper Fidelis!