Last week I shared that when virus emails come we need to recognize they didn't really come from the people in our address book but a virus. A subscriber emailed me and said I shouldn't just delete the emails; I should mark them as spam. That probably is safer, but the problem is if I mark them as spam I may not be able to receive any emails from friends with the virus. I wouldn't be just blocking the emails; I'd be blocking the person altogether. I started a follow up message that same day, stating that we shouldn't delete the people just their emails. However I made an allowance; I recalled a person whom I never hear from anymore, and the only thing I get from her is spam. I said if all you ever get from a person is spam then yes it's ok to delete that person. They aren't adding anything to your life but spam.

 

Well God corrected me immediately. There was another person; an acquaintance that had a virus that resulted in me getting frequent spam emails from her email address. I wasn't able to successfully let her know about the virus and I was tired of getting all that spam. But instead of spamming her I set up a filter so her emails would go to a separate folder. Then I could check the folder to see if there was anything real in there. I never got anything real - only spam. That went on for months, and then I didn't receive anything at all for over a year. Yet right after I wrote that it was ok to delete some people I heard from her! I got a real email and she is virus free. I removed the filter so her emails could go right to my inbox.

 

Through that God showed me that it is never OK to delete people. We shouldn't use our human reasoning to decide who will come around and who won't. I didn't think I would hear from that friend anymore but I did. Most of us have people in our lives that give us plenty of mess. It's tempting to delete them but it's not for us to play God. Jesus didn't close the door on Judas whom He knew would betray Him. We have to let God show us how to set up filters in our lives so others' mess doesn't overwhelm/infect us. God can show us how to love people without accepting their spam. Spam might be drugs, alcohol, abuse of any kind, or ugly words/behavior, etc. God can help us send the message "I still love you but I cannot allow your spam in my life." God said to love others as we love ourselves, and if we embraced the spam then we'd become infected with the same virus. Some people may not be in our lives for a season, and some may never come around, and some may never be safe for us; but that's between them and God. Some may become virus free because of our love and prayers. Our job is to love God and love people - all people. God can also show us how to delete the pain that others have caused with their spam so we can have true forgiveness and genuine love for them.