If This Then That

Sharing is caring!

There’s a cool app that I’ve been using for a couple of years now. It’s called IFTTT, which stands for “If This Then That.” It links different programs and hardware so that, if something happens in one, then it tells the other to do something else.

For example, I can use IFTTT to say, “If I post on Twitter then include the post on Google Spreadsheets,” which will give me a record of my Twitter posts in a nice, neat spreadsheet.

Or I can use IFTTT to tell a home security system, “If I return home then turn on my lights.”

I use IFTTT to link my Yahoo email account with Stripe, my online ministry payment account: “If I receive a new membership payment then send an email to the new member that says ‘Thank you for joining Meeting to Meet Needs!'” (By the way, you can join Meeting to Meet Needs for only $14.99/month and share your membership with your entire church.)

But I digress.

Life itself is full of IFTTTs. “If I eat 3,500 calories more than I burn, then I will gain 1 pound.” “If I continue to spend more than I earn, then I will eventually go bankrupt.” “If I get up early, then I will miss the rush hour traffic.”

Wouldn’t it be nice if we were, like an IFTTT app, always so logical? It seems, however, that we spend a lot of time and energy attempting to avoid the consequences of our actions: “If this then that, except for now.“

I know very well that eating more calories than I burn results in gaining weight. But I still had a second helping of chili topped with cheese and Frito Chili Cheese Corn Chips last night. I know that it takes twenty minutes to get to church. But I still sometimes arrive late for no good reason. I know that drinking coffee late in the afternoon will keep me awake at night. But sometimes I do it anyway.

No, we humans are complicated beings. Can we think and act rationally? Yes. But we also have hormones. We have subconscious urges. We have social influences. We have all that advertising we see. And we have, well, sin.

To be specific, we have a sinful nature and we are surrounded by myriads of other sinful people, not to mention sinful beings, like Satan and his demons. IFTTTs in these circumstances don’t stand a chance. Like a blind person walking in an unfamiliar room full of furniture, sin blinds us to its consequences.

Fortunately, there is an IFTTT for our dire situation. And it is the greatest “If this then that” of all.

If you “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,” then “you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31)

This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.

Since 2003 New Commandment Men’s Ministries has helped hundreds of churches throughout North American and around the world recruit teams of men who permanently adopt their widowed and single parents in their congregations for the purpose of donating two hours of service to them one Saturday morning each month. We accomplish this with a free training site called New Commandment Men’s Ministry

Learn how to mobilize your men’s ministry to meet every pressing need in your church here.

_______________________________________________________________

Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom

and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.

_______________________________________________________________