Fill your void before your adversary does!

Colossians 3:2

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.

With all the booming technology around us, there’s no lack of distractions today, that can instantly carry our thoughts into the things of the world, conditioning our mind to think as the people of the world think and to keep us engaged in thoughts that have minimal or no value. We are living in a world today where technology has made itself a master over people’s lives, tempting us to frequently check our mails where there’s a load of marketing, and to scroll through social media feeds that promote online socialization, meaningless and shallow relationships and narcism. I believe that it’s an everyday struggle to keep our focus on God and things that really matter, as I’ve felt that my mind wastes no time in constantly prompting me to check the news website, to follow trending hashtags to stay updated, to keep checking my phone for notifications! Satan’s crafty plan is to keep every mind busy – with the thoughts of the world, and to take away the seed of the life-giving Word. As goes the saying, “An idle mind is the Devil’s workshop”. There’s therefore a need for us to intentionally fill our minds with Godly thoughts. Of course, our flesh will rage against it to pull us towards the worldly things, but that’s when we reach out to God and ask for His grace to focus on things that really matter, on things that are eternal.

Paul instructs that as children of God, as we walk in the light of God’s Word through God’s grace, we are to guard our thought life in Christ. It’s easy to be carried away by the wind (The ungodly are… like the chaff which the wind drives away. – Psalm 1:4) – but it sure does take a lot of effort to swim against the current, to take our steady stand on our Rock (The righteous... shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water – Psalm 1:3) and to say “No” to the worldly distractions - every single day. Taking time to shut off all these distractions and to spend time with God, pondering on His Word, His mighty deeds and His incredibly amazing character – is so vitally important in our spiritual growth towards Holiness and to become like Christ. Let’s be reminded today that our mind is a battleground and let’s pray for God’s grace to overcome the world through the One who overcame! Let the Holy Spirit lead our thoughts today towards what’s right, what’s pure and what’s noble and in a word – what’s Godly. Let our heavenly attraction be stronger than the earthly gravitation.

Philippians 4:8

⁸ 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.

Decisions that matter along the way to the Celestial City!

Matthew 7:13,14

The Narrow Way

¹³ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 

¹⁴ Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Sharing a few thoughts from the Pilgrim’s Progress

There’s a lot of different places that Christian goes through in his journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City. I believe that the spiritual journey of our lives, can be related to “decisions” that we make every day that can either glorify or disappoint God.

Just pondering on two instances where Christian was led astray through his own (silly) decisions, much like how we mess up life through some hasty decisions! In this temporary life, as we live “in the world” and at the same time being NOT “of the world”, there are some distractions that can keep us out of God’s best. The two key things that Christian learns in these instances are as below:

1.      Don’t settle where you are - Keep moving!

When Christian climbs the Hill of Difficulty, he finds a "shady resting place" that the King had made for the traveling pilgrims to rest for a while before continuing on their journey. Christian decides to rest for a while and then dozes off in that refreshing, comforting place and ends up missing his scroll (the seal of the Holy Spirit). We read on to see that Christian realizes that his scroll was missing only after crossing the Hill of Difficulty. He's then forced to go through the Hill of Difficulty once again to find the lost scroll!

The world is no permanent resting place for us. When we settle for the comfortable lifestyle, finding our sweet spot where there’s no risk involved, being hesitant of any changes that can throw us out of our comfort zone - it's easy to lose the zeal for God's kingdom and the desire for His will to be done in our lives, and settle for mediocrity! This is a dangerous condition where Christians can lose the Holy Spirit in their life and the Light inside them is put off. At times when we tend to settle where we are, let’s not forget that there’s a Holy calling – an adventurous journey up ahead of us, as we do life with God, learning to trust Him along the way.

Philippians 3:13,14 ..but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, ¹⁴ I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

2.      Sticking to the King's Highway – At any and every cost!

When the two pilgrims Christian and Hopeful come to a sidetrack called the By path meadow, which ran parallel to the "straight and narrow path" and they saw that the by path meadow seemed a lot easier to walk along than the path they were already on. They decided to take the easy alternative that ran “alongside” the Highway. This was a distraction setup by their adversary, the Devil to lead them away from the highway and lead them into the Doubting castle where the giant called "Despair" captures and chains the pilgrims and Diffidence (Shame/Shyness), the giant's wife asks him to beat the pilgrims without mercy. They finally use the "Key of God's promise" to escape the prison and the giant, and they made it back to the "King's highway".

There’s just ONE way to our Celestial City (Heaven), which is along the straight and narrow path shown by God’s Word (Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path - Psalm 119:105). Sidetracks and shortcuts do not lead to our destination. Anything that seems like a better alternative to “God’s way” will lead us into prisons of doubts where Despair and shame capture our souls! Nonetheless, we have the Key of God’s promise to get out of such prisons!

There are times in our lives when we seem to wait (forever?) on God to come through, for a situation to change. These are the times when the Devil suggests an “easy” alternative and tricks us into thinking that we will still be on a “parallel” road to God’s will if we choose the “easy” way out to the problem we’re facing. When we yield to that temptation, we miss out on God’s best and find ourselves in places God never intended us to be in! Let’s pray for the strength to overcome such distractions in our lives right now and God will help us make Godly decisions that glorify Him! Amen.