I was recently given the opportunity to visit some data centers which house computer equipment capable of generating a lot of information. These newest generation of data centers will house AI, artificial intelligence. Server based computer equipment is pretty smart. The amount of information that they will generate dwarfs today’s traditional data centers by leaps and bounds, and companies are looking to be a part of this rather large trend that’s developing around the world.
It’s really difficult to get into these places; they are very secretive. So I asked our guide what was one of his largest concerns that they had about the development of these data centers. The reply was interesting. The technology in these AI driven data centers involves chips that generate a large amount of heat. So much heat that the traditional way of cooling the data centers has now evolved into being something much greater, and cooling them down is very important. I’ve been told that a data center of this nature, if it is shut down, the loss of dollars is in the millions of dollars per hour.
But the other part was contaminants. The contaminants would have to be practically non-existent, or the coolant could slow down as it goes across the chip. And it would generate too much heat and it shuts down again. So the parts that you supply in the space have to be extremely clean. And my host confirmed they will be checking the cleanliness as they bring the hardware into the space. Our company was trying to have it cleaned to 100 microns. Shockingly, this AI server center required 25 microns or less. To give you an idea of what a Micron is, the size of a 25 Micron particle is about the diameter of a human hair.
I began thinking about the filters and the process to ensure that degree of cleanliness. And I started comparing to other filters you and I use such as automobile filters, home filtration systems, vacuum cleaners and coffee pot filters. Our bodies even have filters like our lungs and kidneys. And our skin is also a big filter.
But filters aren’t just relevant on a physical level. Every day we filter out information through our minds. We receive hundreds and hundreds of different bits of information, and thousands of messages that go through our head. Some we consciously think about and some we don’t. There are things we choose to filter out and ignore, and others that we will act on. Additionally, we all filter out what we say to others. We’re selective. On the other hand, we all know people who we say, “have no filter at all.”
Being careful what we say is a function of wisdom and experience. It might come as a surprise to you that we place filters unknowingly sometimes, with almost every single item of information or communication that we send out or receive. Certain elements of mental or spiritual filtration are paramount to our existence. But some of the ways we filter information can be spiritually harmful because they distort the truth.
We need to consider the various ways that we filter information, good and bad, so we’ll know which things to steer away from and which ones to go toward for the best spiritual impact.
So what negatively impacts our spiritual lives? Note below the Three Deceptive Filters:
#1 Satan, the god of this World
Satan is a master of deception and distortion. Jesus Christ called him the father of lies: ”You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44 NKJV).
We find in 2 Corinthians 4:2-4, that Satan works all the time to blind people to the true significance of the gospel, and that all of us were in bondage at one time or the other, to his way of thinking, until we were redeemed by Jesus Christ.
We are all conditioned in various ways by a society under the alignment of Satan. Paul even stated that Satan sometimes hinders the work of God striving to gain inroads into God’s church to negatively impact the people of God (1 Thessalonians 2:18, 3-5). We need to recognize that many attitudes in society can affect our views. They are inspired and influenced by the god of this world, and we should be guarding against who and what is forming our views and our minds on anything.
#2 Our Point of Origin: Background, Culture, and Education
This part stems to a large degree as to the environment in which we grew up. An environment in which we spent/spend a lot of time.
The Book of James indicates there our thoughts don’t all totally change because we are baptized. All of us bring backgrounds into the church: “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? 2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures. 4 . . . Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously? ‘ ” (James 4:1-5).
James also makes it clear where manifestations of human nature originate, including confusion and every evil thing (James 3:13-17). And when Christ met the Samaritan woman at the well, her perspective of the state of things was from her own specific circumstances and background. Christ cut through all that and pointed out that a time would come when “true worshippers would worship the Father in spirit and in truth,” (John 4:19-20,21-24).
We must direct our thoughts with Christ’s help. We can get beyond former thoughts or biases. Even how we take in information is an iffy thing in today’s world. Items presented electronically can seem one way when they really aren’t that way at all. Our young people say, “Some ideas seem like a good thing at the time.” And that is what’s happening. There’s no thought process, there are no guardrails and people are taking advantage, moving our thinking into areas that we never thought were possible. Things that seem really true, aren’t.
#3 Personal Filters: Our point of View
The fruit that is produced from a human heart that is not submitted, or in the direction of God, is sin which leads to death. Through God’s help, we can overcome against the elements of sin, but to do so takes continuous self-confrontation. The only positive filters comes from God. The more we see through the word of God, and thus the eyes of Christ, the less impactful and susceptible we will be to negative filters.
This filter might be the most difficult one to deal with. We always have a thought, on our point of view, relative to someone else’s. There’s one that’s wrong, and then there’s ours, right? When we’ve always done things in a certain way, it’s difficult to stand back and ask ourselves whether we are seeing things objectively, particularly when the issues are personal. One of the things that can derail us into thinking incorrectly is misunderstandings of habits, past painful events, our own self-image, and perhaps thinking incorrectly about human nature. God inspired Jeremiah to put it this way: “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? 10 I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings” (Jeremiah 17:9-10).
But how do we overcome the negative filters in ourselves? Below are three Filters of Spiritual Positivity.
#1: God’s Scriptural Truth: Seek, learn, know and love.
…”If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32). The truth liberates us, but we must embrace the thought and believe it. We have to receive and retain a love of the word of God or we might find that our strength in the truth will be saturated or even diluted.
#2: Obedience to God’s Way of Life
Obedience to God’s way of life is another positive filter that protects us spiritually: “Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (Romans 6:16-18).
We must be truthful with ourselves, and that is sometimes hard to do. We must have a compelling desire to be consistent in our beliefs. The filters that Paul showed us that we can use are in Ephesians 6: “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;” (Ephesians 6:13–17 NKJV). These are the spiritual weapons that Paul indicated we should have. We can recall and see a connection to the attributes that keep the evil ways of Satan from us all.
#3: Using the Power of God’s Spirit
We need to drive permanent change in our filters. We may be familiar with the fruits of God’s spirit, but we need to be constantly working toward continual perfecting of these same fruits within ourselves. If we look at them and compare ourselves with the use of them in relation to others, how do we stack up? In the end, God’s spirit is the ultimate positive filter: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law “(Galatians 5:22–23 NKJV). How are you and I utilizing what He has given to us?
“Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things” (Philippians 4:8 NKJV).
The designers of these data centers have high expectations for those who wish to be a part of these massive projects. They have a set of standards that they are wanting participants to aspire to. The company I work for makes products out of metal and rubber, plastics, and elastomers. We must deliver those products to a cleanliness state that some might consider unrealistic. They need this level to have a successful operation. No particulates larger than a diameter of a human hair. The caliber of the product will be obvious. And passing through filters that are so compact that only the purest fluid makes it through is impressive. But companies will figure it out. From a worldly perspective the rewards will be great.
But God has high expectations of His people as well. There are bad filters for us to utilize and good ones too. Part of our ability to validate will be the caliber of our character, regardless of the things that might try to enter into our minds. We have to drive toward the character of God the Father, and His son Jesus Christ. Those that meet that criteria will pass through. It’s the purest of fluids. The rewards will be great for us in the God family from the only perspective that truly matters. That’s God’s perspective.
Ken Parks