This subject has been showing up a lot lately. It’s an obvious goal, so why do we blow it? Does the flood of images we see on television and the internet make an unclean heart seem normal? Maybe it’s the popular “Have-it-your-way” messages we get at Church that puts the stamp of approval on our wondering minds? Whatever it is, it isn’t what GOD wants!
If you spend much time watching television, you will be bombarded by “sexy” images and actions. The same people who complain about sexual harassment and stereotyping women, angrily defend their right to show their body and entice others. They ignore the harmful reactions their provocative displays cause, because sex sells and there are many buyers. Nudity is defended as artistic expression, but JESUS said “whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already” (Mat 5:28 KJV) and that is sin!
The same problem is on the internet but multiplied many times over. The private nature of the internet has led to less restraint and little or no accountability. The internet is a great means to spread the Gospel, but it is also the biggest purveyor of porn. You don’t have to look for it, it will find you! I heard many years ago, “You may not be able to keep a bird from landing on your head, but you don’t have to let it build a nest.” Not dwelling on these images, might help, but you need a clean heart where sin can’t dwell. GOD hates sin and so should you!
There are other areas of impurity that we need to guard against, such as anger, bitterness, and hatred. A nurse who was drawing my blood told me she read a book with a vulgar title that meant something like “Heck With You” and she was considering using that attitude to deal with mean, hateful and rude people on the road. Her reasoning and the vulgar book title shocked me into silence. I should have told her I pray for people who act like that. Perhaps if my heart was cleaner that would have been my response.
Would thinking about the damage sin causes make us less likely to fall in the trap of an unclean heart? That would mean knowledge is the answer and it isn’t. Medical people know drugs are harmful, but still fall prey to addiction. Policemen deal with the effects of crime, but too often become criminals. Even Pastors and Church leaders, who should know the “wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23 KJV), find themselves its victim.
So, what is the answer? Paul said we must cast “down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” 2 Cor 10:5 KJV). Not just once, but constantly. That’s something we must do but that’s not nearly enough. We need more!
David cried out “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalms 51:10 KJV). We can’t do it with our own efforts, we need GOD’s supernatural help! With GOD’s help and the power of the HOLY SPIRIT working in us, we can truly have a “clean heart” that rejects sin! Sin will be so repulsive because GOD loves us so much! Now you need to ask GOD to help, and the HOLY SPIRIT will fill you with the overcoming power!
Wayne Lance – That’s Good News to Share!