Preparation For The Battlefield

Preparation for the Battlefield

Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. Matthew 6:22-23

Whatever is evil, vengeful, lustful, tempting, or otherwise ungodly tends to stick in our minds or hearts and grow. We need to be vigilant not to let that happen.

This applies to all kinds of inappropriate thoughts—anger, bitterness, vengeance, jealousy, criticism, negativity, and on and on. But this also applies to lust and pornography, which can turn into an addiction as real and as strong as an addiction to alcohol or drugs. Pornography is easy to access and is considered harmless by many, so it can take residence in your mind before you realize it’s a problem. You don’t have to be in an adult bookstore or an X-rated movie to be tempted by it. It gets into our lives in lots of ways. It’s subtle. But it can be extremely damaging, and the best way to keep it from becoming a problem is to avoid it altogether.

As a father, I have to be sensitive to the ways our culture handles this issue. As easily tempted as we adults can be in this area, our kids are more so. And it isn’t just a matter of pornography, but of decency. If I put that swimsuit issue of a familiar sports magazine on my coffee table, what message am I giving to my son about having a pure heart? What message am I giving my daughter about how women are perceived? And how am I allowing myself to be tempted? We have to protect our own minds and the minds of our kids. It often begins with those “small things” chipping away at the boundaries we should keep.

The best way to protect those boundaries is to pray early and often. Whenever you sense an inappropriate thought forming, ask God to take it from you and cleanse your mind of it. Envision your mind and your heart as God’s treasured territory, and do whatever it takes to protect that territory. Whenever you’re confronted with an impure thought, reject it and replace it with something much more positive. Teach your kids how to redirect their thoughts and discipline themselves in truth. Whatever it takes, prevent infiltration.

Uncommon Key > Your mind can be a battlefield. Protect it from impurities and fill it with truth. If that means changing some things that seem “innocent,” do it today.