Guarding our minds is serious business. If we are honest, we must acknowledge that our sin, doesn’t happen upon us at times when we are wholly focused on serving God (as we unmarried can be). When our whole hearts are devoted to the Kingdom of God, sin does not come along and swallow us up. Never! It occurs when we begin to let the godly and “good” things slip. Not being watchful of your associations? Be careful! Not giving time to prayer and study of the Word? Look out! Not working on developing real fellowship with God–and godly people? It’s a setup–of your own choosing. You are about to take a detour onto the road of “Sin Conceived”. Immorality doesn’t just happen to us–God always tugs at the strings of our hearts, to warn us–but we have to receive the warning and consciously take heed. He does as any loving parent would–only more so, because He sees the end from the beginning. He knows the paths that we will take, and He desires only good for us.
It may sound harsh, but it is fact–when we sin, we choose to. You see the signs, but you ignore them. Sometimes, it is sinful pride that leads us out of the way. We forget that it is only God’s grace that can keep us–and we fall. There are key things that we must all look for in our lives, if we will avoid sin.
Watch the thoughts that you allow to be sown in your heart–self-examine, because there is an action to follow, the initial thought. Again, sow things that “are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report”. If you think on these things, you will reap a bountiful harvest of blessings! If, however, you choose to sow malice, envy, and backbiting–even laziness (in particular, spiritual laziness), talking too much or having a bad attitude–guess what kind of fruit you will reap? See Galatians 6:9, 14-26.
If we want to walk holy and be kept by God’s precious and abundant gift of grace–we must sow the Word of God, sow prayer, sow fasting, sow worship, sow love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance–and you will reap God’s best. Not sowing good things into your life is just as damaging to your spirit as sowing evil things. There is no neutrality in God’s Kingdom! You must choose a side and devote your full attention to it. Not choosing, consciously, or unconsciously will lead to destruction. That’s the “laziness”, I mentioned earlier. Being spiritually lazy and lax is a setup (of your own making), for failure.
Being unmarried, makes us more susceptible to some kinds of temptation–for instance, sexual immorality. We have to be on guard, to avoid that temptation. Once allowed to take root, it is very hard to fight–avoidance is much easier. As an unmarried man or woman, we cannot watch everything on television–or see every movie, we shouldn’t read every book. These things can become footholds for satan’s influence in our lives. Learn yourself. Get to know which things trigger ungodly responses, in your life–that’s the battle–see Romans 7.
Make the right choice, and be “delivered from the body of this death…so then with the mind, I myself serve the Law of God…” Don’t walk haphazardly–stay focused; protect your heart, mind and body.
CHOOSE the way that leads to life everlasting. Be ever mindful of your destiny!
Abundant Blessings!!! Lisa