When a Printer Isn’t a Printer!

When I worked for Hewlett Packard as a printer and computer tech it was always interesting to listen to the problems people were having, and the descriptions they gave to them.

Some of my favorite came from the printer calls. You would hear things like: Yes, my printer just sits there and doesn’t work, or the paper doesn’t move, and of course – the lights just blink.

Of course it was obvious that there was a problem, but most times it was operator error. Usually it just sat there without the paper moving and nothing happening because it was either turned off, or unplugged. And when the lights blink that indicates that either the paper or ink are empty – or the paper is jammed. Yes there were exceptions, but most times it centered around these issues.

So, a printer is only a printer when it has the capability of printing, otherwise it is just a piece of computer hardware that is useless. It has to have paper, ink, power, and be plugged into a computer to have full worth.

Printers can be compared to people in some ways. Over 80% of people in the United States identify themselves as Christians, but some questions remain. Just like a printer, people calling themselves Christians need to have a power source, and input source, substance of life (ink), and an output (paper). Is a printer really a printer if it just sits there and can’t print? It is a printer only in name, after all – we bought the thing to print, not to just sit there and look pretty!

It’s the same with Christians. Just because someone calls themselves a Christian doesn’t make them a Christian. A Christian is someone who is plugged into Christ – has accepted Him as their personal savior (power source), Studies and meditates on His Word (input source), relies on God’s Spirit to empower/guide/direct them in what they do and say (ink), and lives according to Gods principles so other people both see and are affected by their life choices (paper).

Name tags, church membership/attendance, family name, wealth, position, rituals, nor any thing that you can do as a person makes you a Christian outside of submitting to Christ as Lord of your life.

2 Corinthians 5:14-17 (NLT)
Whatever we do, it is because Christ's love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for everyone, we also believe that we have all died to the old life we used to live. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live to please themselves. Instead, they will live to please Christ, who died and was raised for them. So we have stopped evaluating others by what the world thinks about them. Once I mistakenly thought of Christ that way, as though he were merely a human being. How differently I think about him now! What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!!

“Father” – Reality or Just a Term?

Have you ever thought about how broad the term father is used these days? We refer to people who invent things as fathers of their creation, as well as those who create an idea or philosophy. Today, however, I want to focus on those we know as fathers who have helped procreate a child. The term father is usually assigned to the act of biologically conceiving a child, but is that where it ends?

Many studies have shown that children without active/nurturing fathers in their lives grow up imbalanced, and with a lack of nurturing in many areas.

Everything a father does either helps a child develop or diminish as the person God has created the child to be. Whether it is the time spent reading, the hours spent in the car, times of working on projects, or – yes those great discipline events. Our kids are observing and learning from everything we do and teach.


There is a story that goes this way. A father wanted to read the paper, but was being bothered by his little daughter, Susie. Finally, he took a sheet out of his magazine, on which was printed the map of the world. Tearing it into small pieces, he gave it to Susie, and said, "Go into the other room and see if you can put this together."

After a few minutes, Susie returned and handed him the map correctly fitted together. The father was very surprised and asked how she had finished so quickly.

"Oh", she said, "on the other side of the paper is a picture of Jesus. When I got Jesus in His place, then the world came out all right."

Through the years as we teach our children about God and His standards (and we all do either in a positive way or negative way) they suck up that information and make it an internal value. As in this little girl’s case, she may not have known how the world fit together, be she knew the Jesus who had created the world.

God has instructed fathers to impact our children’s lives with true knowledge of God and who He is. It is not the churches job, it is the father’s job. The church is to reinforce what is being taught in the home.

Before crossing into the promised land Moses laid out clear instructions for fathers:

Deuteronomy 6:5-9

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

Have you been really fathering your children, or just showing up once in a while?