“Casting 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;” (2nd Cor. 10:5)
Those thoughts that are not focused on Christ, how do they make you feel, how do you respond to yourself when you realize that not one thought of Christ, not one moment of contemplation on the Word of God, not one Scripture verse has passed through your mind for perhaps hours?
Sadly, for some I could possibly say days, in fact for some from Sunday at around noon until the following Sunday when they pass through those doors of the church again.
To those of you who desire to lift up the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose one sole purpose is to glorify the Living God, those thoughts that fill your mind that hold no relevance to Him can bring about a burden of emotional turmoil, we begin to feel as if we have dishonored Him, that we have in those moments become unprofitable.
“Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” (Psalm 121:4)
The Shepherd of our souls is always watching over us, and He can tell when those moments are either beneficial or detrimental, but not all of those items of the world my friends are done in disregard to our Savior, the man working at a sawmill or on steel on a high rise would be wise to keep his mind on what he is doing, the wife who is standing in front of a pot of boiling water should not let her mind wander.
But there are other thoughts, thoughts which will attempt to draw us into the world and away from those of the Lord, those you know within yourself, and I do not need to bring them to your recollection, you just did so as you read this line, did you not?
“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.” (Psalm 139:14)
That then is the question posed for you in this short letter, when you find yourself for a few minutes, or even longer, further down the path and cannot recall one thought of righteousness, of the righteousness of Him who loves us, but only those that the flesh has been imagining, do you have a negative emotional response, do you feel bad because, for even a short period of time, you have not fallen into a trap, but have returned to that rut, to a depression in the road to glory?
The best intentions are always laid bare before us when we look at ourselves.
I pity those who are truly born again who find themselves not contemplating these truths, who walk on the path but cannot find their way out of those ruts, those constant depressions along the way, whose minds desire to stay on the Lord, but who have yet to die completely to self.
The world and the flesh are formidable foes, are they not?
To drive at a high rate of speed down a road with much traffic on it is probably not the best time to be going through your memory verses, some moments in time require our full attention. The Almighty understands this and expects you to give full attention to those moments such as this, but it is impossible to call Him your Savior if you neglect His Word, if you neglect to contemplate Him on a regular basis.
Forgetting Him until the next Sunday morning rolls around does not a Christian make, desiring to return to Him at every possible moment does.
