Battle for the Mind

"Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear.  'All of you listen,' he said, 'and try to understand.  You are not defiled by what you eat; you are defiled by what you say and do!'  Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowds, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the statement he had made.  'Don't you understand either?' he asked.  'Can't you see that what you eat won't defile you?  Food doesn't come in contact with your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then comes out again.'  (By saying this, he showed that every kind of food is acceptable.)  And then he added, 'It is the thought-life that defiles you.  For from within, out of a person's heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, eagerness for lustful pleasure, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.  All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you and make you unacceptable to God.' " Mark 7:14-23 (NLT).

Every sin we commit twice - once in our thoughts and once in our actions.  First comes the temptation to our minds then comes the sinful action.  Therefore, the battle to live in a way that pleases God is fought in the mind.  This is what Jesus is saying.  It's all about your thoughts and mine. 

Consequently, what we put into our minds makes all the difference in the world as to how we shall live.  If we put in Godly thoughts and images, Godly thoughts will more likely rule.  If we put in ungodly thoughts and images, ungodly thoughts will more likely rule.  It's the old: garbage in, garbage concept.  If we put garbage into our minds, our thought-life will be full of stench!  But if we put in good thoughts, our thought-life will smell heavenly.  What we put in determines what we do and who we are or will become.

If we turn on the television and watch filth, then filth will impact our thought-life and also our living.  If we surf web sites full of immorality, then immoral thoughts will tempt us to immoral living.  If we attend movies that are saturated with ungodly philosophy then these will hammer our thoughts away from God and toward sin.  If we read books that pooh-pooh lifestyles that God has said are wrong, then we will begin to pooh, pooh what God has forbidden.  If we listen to music that glorifies violence, death, gore, or selfishness - our minds, and hence lives, will be heavily influenced by these unrighteous points of view.

I have two students at school who wear black jeans and black t-shirts to school every day.  I kid them about this just like they kid me about wearing plaid a lot.  However, it isn't just the fact that they wear nothing but black that is disturbing.  It is what is on their t-shirts every day that bothers me.  Every day their t-shirts have metal music slogans or group names on them that speak of death, gore, vomiting, suicide, and violence.  It is not surprising, then, that these boys constantly draw pictures on their backpacks or on paper of men vomiting, ripping other's eyeballs out, or engaging in grotesque violence or mutilation.

The saddest part of it is that they both profess to be Christians and attend church each week.  But the music they listen to is straight from the pit of hell.  Yes, that is a strong characterization, and please know that I love these boys.  I dialogue all the time with them about God.  But their thought-life is dominated by their  music which glorifies darkness, violence and death.  Consequently, these boys wear clothes, draw pictures, and verbalize that which they listen to.  They are not violent themselves - not yet, and hopefully never.  But their appearance, speech, and drawings speak of darkness and death. 

Don't tell me that the music we listen to doesn't matter!  It impacts us deeply!  The same is true of movies, shows, books, magazines, video games, web sites, and more.  Everything we put into our minds affects our thought-life which ultimately affects how we live.  The powers of darkness battle for your mind daily!

Jesus is trying to teach us this.  He is telling us that if we wish to serve God and live in a manner that is acceptable to him, we must win the battle for our thoughts.  This means putting as many of the good things of God into our minds as possible, and being very selective about the other things we put into our minds.

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