How many times have you had a song stuck in your mind and just could not seem to get rid of it. Now, ask yourself this question, how many different songs have you heard in your life, thousands perhaps? Why don’t you simply change the channel, so to speak, go to that place in your mind where all those songs are stored and pick a different one?
“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” (Psalm 119:11)
For many decades now I have done just that, when I find music that begins to revolve in my head monotonously, I change the tune, and it is always the same one, “Jesus Loves the Little Children.” More than likely it was one of the first ones I was taught when my grandmother would take me to Sunday school, long before I ever attended public school, but the reason is really quite immaterial, and goes much deeper than Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
I am old now, and have no intention of stepping off the Rock of my salvation, what the Almighty decides to send into my life I have determined to accept, but changing that channel is more akin to, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:2)
A transformed mind, the mind that is within us that is being sanctified is a mind, a heart if you prefer, that is, or should be, continuously being transformed. It isn’t just a song that can get stuck in your head my friends, it is the past, the past before the cross, and a part of you if you will allow it to may remain stuck in there and will eventually draw you towards it.
“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.” (1st Cor. 6:11)
The remembrance of the delights of the flesh are never really forgotten, those seasons of sin that we once relished in can, if we are not vigilant, begin once again to seem appealing, and if you do not change the channel, you may, so to speak, in time not want to.
What was it? Sex, drink, drugs, food, the pursuits of the flesh are far too numerous to mention in this short letter to you, but you had one or more of those pleasures, probably more than a few times.
What if the prodigal son had not run out of money, or ponder this instead, did he recall those days years later, if even only for a few moments, with longing, with a smile on his face? That is the draw, that is what happens to each and every one of us, and in that moment, if we do not seek the face of God, if we do not change the channel, there is a strong possibility that, at least in part, 2nd Peter 2:22 may become a reality in our life. “But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.”
The mind that is no longer conformed to the world still battles the mind within us that is, our old nature, and that old man cares not if its vomit or mud, sin or rebellion, Christ is not the desire of our flesh. You do not need our adversary’s assistance with this, you know that, he cannot read your mind or see your thoughts, this is all on you.
Change the channel, look at something else, think of something else, these are the moments when the Holy Spirit helps us the most sometimes, because He can read your mind.
Don’t do it because you fear the chastening of the Lord, do it because you love Him, do it because you do not want to dishonor Him, even in your thoughts. He will help you to get unstuck.
This is perhaps the most difficult challenge you will ever face in your walk with the Lord, controlling your thoughts.
