Security Measures

Once upon a time, people left their cars and houses unlocked. Church buildings, too.

Once upon a time, alarm systems were reserved for jewelry stores and banks, not for homes in the suburbs. It only took a few minutes to make your way through an airport security check. No one worried about identity theft, credit card fraud was unusual, and crime against the elderly was as rare as a Florida snow.

Once upon a time, medicine bottles didn't need plastic strips wrapped around their lids to assure us they are "sealed for our protection."

Once upon a time, schools didn't need metal detectors. Little kids didn't need chains and padlocks to lash their bicycles to a steel pole while they bought candy at the neighborhood store. The church nursery didn't need a formal check-in system, because Aunt Bessie had safely rocked babies in the nursery since the Eisenhower administration.

That was then. This is now.

Stealing isn't new, but thieves keep finding new ways to do it.

In an article called "It's Not All About Hackers" in the September 2005 issue of Campus Technology magazine, Doug Gale, president of Information Technology Associates, tells how to prevent someone from stealing information from your computer.

Three types of security, he says, allow proper access to electronic information.

First, there's something you have—an object such as a key or a photo ID. Unfortunately, though, a key can easily be lost, stolen, or duplicated.

Second, there's something you know—a password or a PIN code. However, a password can be stolen or guessed by an experienced or lucky hacker.

Third, there's something you are—using some part of a person's physical identity (a fingerprint, voice recognition, or even a retinal scan) to verify access. But this kind of technology is expensive and can result in false rejections. Gale notes, "There's nothing quite as frustrating as being locked out of your own computer when it refuses to recognize your thumbprint."

Since our lives do not consist in the abundance of our technology, there's a far more important issue at stake than the security of our computers. How can our souls be secure? Where can we find spiritual security in an uncertain world? God's Word tells the Christian:

There's security in something we have. "And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:11, 12).

There's security in someone we know. "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).

There's security in something we are. "We know that we are children of God . . . And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5:19, 20).

It's hard to feel safe in today's world. "Any lock," Gale reminds us, "can be picked with a big enough hammer." But we can find security the same way King David did nearly 3,000 years ago. He said, "The Lord is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?" (Psalm 27:1).