Assimilation

I used to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) as a teen. One of the more memorable enemies of Star Fleet was the Borg. The Borg was an ever-growing colony that was attempting to assimilate everyone in the universe into itself. Its favorite expression as it was trying to conquer a victim was, “Resistance is futile.”  The memory of this force came to mind as I was studying the holiness and perfection of God with a friend. We were discussing how to define holy using its antithesis. Holy can be defined as being set apart and Israel was a nation that was to be holy– set apart –from the rest of the nations. To assimilate into the world would have been in opposition to their mandate to be set apart.

As the word association led to the Borg, I began to remember other words associated with it and how the entity operated on the show. Words like “collective” and “hive” came to mind. I checked it out on Wikipedia and those were alternate names for the Borg. My friend was familiar with the original Star Trek, but not TNG. Even so, he is familiar with evil and how it operates. As we discussed the contrasting ideas of being separate and assimilating, we made a somewhat startling discovery. You either remain assimilated into the evil of the sinful nature or you choose to leave that hive and assimilate into the goodness of God.

“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”  Deuteronomy 30:15-20 ESV

God sets life and good, death and evil before each of us to choose from. If we don't select good, we will remain assimilated into the hive of evil. Do not believe the lie of the enemy. Resistance is NOT futile! It is your weapon against the devil, for when you employ it, he MUST flee (James 4:7).