I walked to the mailbox every day for over three weeks before the package with my name on it arrived. It had been a long process of eating that less-than-tasty cereal to get the box tops necessary to order my secret decoder ring. I couldn’t wait until Saturday morning to see what the next message was from Sky King, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, The Cisco Kid, or the Lone Ranger, or whoever was in cahoots with the cereal company. I was never impressed with any of the messages, but I discovered there was a certain excitement about getting something in the mail. It was like getting a Christmas present when it wasn’t Christmas. I felt important. Today it is the antithesis — receiving communication is not necessarily something that makes you feel good or important. Today, going to the mailbox requires sorting through junk mail and bills only to find that nothing of importance arrived. I wonder if George Washington ever envisioned such a thing when he signed the legislation to begin the U.S. Postal Service this day in 1792.

Today, there are more ways to communicate, gather data, and learn than through the U.S. mail. We use many media daily. Information is everywhere for the asking. Yet, I have recently received e-mail videos of talk show hosts interviewing people on the street displaying a lack of common sense and everyday knowledge beyond my comprehension. How is it possible that we are less literate than we were in the 1960’s? How can we communicate more and understand less? Perhaps one of Satan’s greatest tools is information overload. It seems that when mankind found a way to record and retain information he did so without regard to its value. Whatever supports someone’s agenda is now compared equally with words of lasting value. As a society, we have found a way to assign equality to what tickles our senses rather than what should bring us to our senses (2 Timothy 3: 1–7).

My purpose today is not to complain but to recognize what freedom has in reality afforded us. In the past God commissioned the Jews to become the historians because they recorded His messages of truth and the His promises for us all. Today, freedom has forced us to listen to opposing agendas to ensure “equality” regardless of whether it is right or wrong. So, my question is: “How free are we, really?” Are we so different from Christian slaves in Roman times which were forced to observe or be a part of their deviant lifestyles? The only difference is they observed it in real life while we are relentlessly exposed to it in commercials and on network television, video tape, or DVD.

So, as you go through life today, look at what you are exposed to as good mail and junk mail. Filter through it all and throw out what needs to be thrown out so you dwell on what will give you strength and joy. (Remember the “filters” of faith, hope and love, versus fear, doubt and hate.) Paul said it well in Philippians 4:8b–9: “Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me — everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” Don’t just put on your “shades”; put on your junk mail filters too!

Love, Dad