Change Thoughts
“…casting down arguments and every high thing that
exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing
every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”
2 Corinthians 10:5
Overcoming fornication in our society is going to be difficult, it will require a change in our thoughts. Somehow, through the work of the ruler of this world fornication has lost all of its stigma. Not only is it not condemned, but in some circles it is promoted as an alternative lifestyle to marriage. This says that somewhere along the way our thoughts have been changed. We now accept as fact that our young people cannot stop fornicating, or for that matter neither can we. We have accepted defeat, without even putting up a fight. The scripture says that we must bring every thought of ours into the captivity of Christ. We should develop the mind of Christ. There has been a recent campaign that ask, “What would Jesus do?” The Bible states that it is not only `what He would have done, but what would He think.
Our thinking has caused us major problems. The world promotes “common sense”, but common sense is not of God. God provides wisdom to His people, common sense is of the world. Common sense tells us that our children are going to fornicate and there is nothing we can do about it, so we must make the best of it. Instead of stressing abstinence we need to stress safe sex practices and condoms. God does not see sin that way. He does not see it as we do not have a choice. We choose everyday either to obey God or not to obey.
Why are my thoughts so important? Why do I need to change them? Our Lord says that if we think about something, we may as well have already done it.[1]Before we do anything in this world, we think about it, it may just be a fraction of a second, but we do think about it. Therefore, if we think about something long enough, we will usually do it. The message of Christ is that our thoughts dictate our actions. If my thoughts are evil and sinful so will be my behavior, but if my thoughts are under the obedience of Christ my behavior should be also. Therefore, my thoughts must change for my behavior to change. With no change of heart or thought, there will be no change of behavior.
“and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put
on the new man, which was created according to God, in
true righteousness and holiness.”
Ephesians 4:23, 24
In the new testament there are a number of passages that speak about getting a new mind, new heart, and a new spirit. That in order for us to be able to obey God we must have a change of mind. We come to rely on our earthly mind, with its earthly wisdom. There are those among us who believe that technology is the solution to all of our problems. That no matter what we do today, by the time it causes a problem we will have come up with the solution through technology. Whether that be environmental, physical, spiritual, or social. For some technology is their god. But this is a false idol and will go the way of all false idols. It will leave them without a foundation to stand on. Many of us have come to rely so much on technology that we have stopped relying on God. But it is all distractions to take our minds off of our true purpose for being here on this earth. Our minds love the toys and the distractions because the minds we have are carnal minds. They seek the things of this world, all the nice gadgets we see paraded on the television. We have lost touch with things of the Spirit, the more we rely on technology the less we rely on God. Our spirituality has been reduced to astrology or some “psychic” hot line. You have people who will not miss their horoscope, but do not have time to see what the Word of God has to say to them that day. They are more concerned about witchcraft and all that than what their Creator has to say.
The minds of our people, our young people especially are being corrupted by the influence of the world, but also by a lack of counter-balance. They are constantly bombarded with these seductive images on the television and movie screen. Because we as men were not there for them in their childhoods and formative years their has been no one to say what is foolishness. They are being misled by the lies of this world, especially that there is no God or that He does not care about them personally. Our youth have been brainwashed by this “gospel of easy money” being promoted so vividly in movies, television, and in some cases the church. You do not have to work or go to school, just sling dope or take what someone else has. You do not have to get married or treat people especially our women with respect. You do not have to respect authority, not even the ultimate authority of God. And, the most insidious of all is you do not need to respect yourself.
“And He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,
and the hearts of the children to the fathers, lest I come
and strike the earth with a curse.”
Malachi 4:6
I pray and claim this promise of God for all of our people. Unfortunately, a lot of our fathers have turned their hearts from their children. You have men who are not even willing to claim their children, let alone support them. All you have to do is watch one of those daytime talk shows when they do a “Whose the daddy?” show to witness the lack of love these young people have for themselves and each other. The young men talk about those young women so bad it breaks my heart to hear it. They felt that way even when they were lying down with those women and those women still allowed them to lay with them. How desperate were they for affection from a man, any man. The thing that the men do not get is that while the boys are hurt by their absence so are the little girls. Even their efforts to find a relationship with men are distorted; they choose to be with men who could care less about them. We, as their fathers have a responsibility for this.
We must change this mentality of everybody is a “playa”. This thinking is destroying us as a people. There is no loyalty or commitment to one another. Everyone is out to get what he or she can from each other. It is time for us to grow up as a people. This is childishness, only children think the world revolves around their personal pleasures. These are the values being taught our children to only be concerned about your own selfish pleasure at whatever the cost to others. We treat each other as objects and not as people. We should remember who we are and whose we are. Do you not know that you are the temple of the Holy Spirit, a child of the living God?[2] This is not the purpose of our bodies. Fornication is a sin against not just others, it is a sin against yourself. You are worth more than momentary sensory pleasures, you are worth Christ dying for.[3] This is not only how much He loves you but it also how much God wanted you reconciled back into a relationship with Him. Fathers love your children more than you love yourself. We have for too long been only concerned about ourselves. The world will never respect us until we began to put our children before ourselves. Everyone the world over seeks the best for their children, that their children will enjoy a better life than them. Do we desire that for our children and are we willing to do what it takes to make that a reality?
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