There are several important ways to become less worldly, and closer to the image of Jesus. How can someone fill their mind with the thoughts as they continually fight Satan’s army with his bag of emotional traps? Here are ways for you to sinful thoughts that eventually turn into wrong habits.
1.
Avoid
temptation: “Instead, wrap yourselves in the Lord
Jesus, God’s Anointed, and do not fuel your sinful imagination by indulging your self-seeking desire for the
pleasures of the flesh.” (Romans
13:14, VOICE)
Do not make an easy way for the
flesh to win. Have you noticed a pattern in the temptation in your life? Do you
typically fall into sin at the same places or with the same people? You can
choose to stay out of those places or stay away from those people, and
activities that would cause you to sin. Often we make temptation easy for
ourselves. We don’t try to avoid it.
We want to play as close to it as we
can, but then get upset when we fall into the sin. If you want to avoid the
sin, then avoid the situations that give you an opportunity to sin. Don’t play
with temptation and then claim that the Devil made you do it. That is a lie
that you may be telling yourself, but you know it is not true. We often bring
the temptation and sin upon ourselves.
2.
Establish
accountability with someone: “We
must not quit meeting together, as some are doing. No, we need to keep on
encouraging each other. This becomes more and more important as you see the Day
getting closer.” (Hebrews
10:25, ERV)
Find a friend
who can hold you completely accountable (for all areas of your life). Meet with
them regularly in person, over the phone, or through the Internet. This is crucial to your well-being
emotionally and spiritually
3. Fill your mind with the Bible: “Brothers and sisters, continue to think about what is
good and worthy of praise. Think about what is true and honorable and right and
pure and beautiful and respected. “(Philippians
4:8, ERV)
When you pack your mind with songs
full of ungodly lyrics (or pornography), you can’t expect to have pure
thoughts. You need to focus on the information in your life that is good. (You
know what that is, too.).Memorizing scripture is a great way to fill your mind
with what is high-quality. If you are memorizing and meditating on the Bible, it will begin to push out the
negative thoughts from your mind.
4.
Keep
your mind clean: “I will not even look at anything shameful. I hate all wrongdoing. I want no part of it” (Psalm
101:3, ERV)
If you can keep your eyes from seeing things that are evil
then the likelihood of keeping a pure mind is greater. There is a daily battle
for your eyes. You need to guard your eyes from many things on prime-time
television. A casual glance through health magazines at the doctor’s office can
bombard your eyes, and mind with ungodly images that stir up evil thoughts.
Yes, it is a battle, but it is a battle that we have been given the tools with
which to fight.
5.
View
others with godly eyes: “Don’t speak
angrily to an older man. But talk to him as if he were your father. Treat the
younger men like brothers. Treat
the older women like mothers. And treat the younger women with respect like
sisters.” (1Timothy
5:1-2, ERV)
Think of other people as your
brothers and sisters. Even if the person is an unbeliever, you should still
love them like a sibling. There are many stories in the Bible where Jesus
interacted with women. Sometimes they were vulnerable emotionally or
physically. However, you never see Jesus acting inappropriately toward them. He
always treated them in a godly and wholesome way. He treated them like they
were part of His family.
When you view other people as
objects to be desired then it is hard to have godly thoughts toward them.
Remember that even those who improperly display their bodies are someone’s
daughter, mother, brother, or son. They may not be doing right, but that does
not give you a license to take advantage of them or to allow your mind to
continue towards unholy thoughts and actions.
6. God has a reward for your endurance: If your faith remains strong, even while surrounded by
life’s difficulties, you will continue to experience the untold blessings of
God. True happiness comes as you pass the test with faith, and receive the
victorious crown of life promised to every lover of God. When
you are tempted don’t ever say, “God is tempting me,” for God is incapable of
being tempted by evil and he is never the source of temptation. Instead
it is each person’s own desires and thoughts that drag them into evil and lure[a] them away into darkness. Evil
desires give birth to evil actions. And when sin is fully mature it can murder
you. (James 1:12-15, TPT)
“The logic of worldly success rests on a
fallacy: the strange error that our perfection depends on the thoughts and
opinions and applause of other men! A weird life it is, indeed, to be living
always in somebody else's imagination, as if that were the only place in which
one could at last become real.”
(Thomas Merton)[i]
[i] Adapted from: “5 Ways to Avoid Sinful Habits
or Thoughts” by David
Peach ·
Topic suggested by Gracie White
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