Maintenance is important, right? Maintaining our homes, vehicles, and body is almost routine, but just as important, we must maintain our Spiritual life.
It is suggested that we change the filter in our furnace at least once every 3 months. Have you ever noticed a filter that goes unchanged for over a year? They can get pretty nasty with trapped dirt and dust that prevents air to flow through the system properly, much less spreading air borne dust back into the area. Clogged filters just will not produce the way they should when not maintained properly, killing the performance of its intended use.
The mind is also like a filter. It’s a filter to the heart. What we see, hear, and partake in has an affect on what comes from the heart. It can affect our relationship with our spouse, our children, friends, family, but most importantly our relationship with Christ.
Dr. James Dobson, of Focus on The Family has written that what we watch on TV can have a tremendous impact on our life. That's probably not news to anyone. If we watch a show or movie that presents a fantasy life of wealth, or a fantastical romance, we can often look at ourselves as inadequate, of little worth, or just out of step with life in its self. This too can have adverse effects on family life as we withdraw, compare ourselves or our spouses with the fantastical TV superstar, or hero. Not good. It can even affect our Spiritual life in an adverse way.
God intends for us to have pure hearts, and that starts with a clean mind. Now, that is not to say things won't come sweeping into our lives that pollute, corrupt, or sway us in a wrongful manner, because believe me, they will.Things come rushing into our lives like a pouring rain at times, and that creates a trap or snare for the enemy to use against us.
So, how do we avoid such traps? Clean our filters. Yes, you read right, we too need to clean our mind filters on a regular basis. It's called Spiritual maintenance or cleansing. Some suggestions on how to accomplish this are to start every day of your life out in prayer. That is an awesome cleansing process. Dive into His word, and don’t do this just to read a few passages to get finished, but study and meditate on what you read. Read a little less, absorb a little more is good method, as not to get overwhelmed. Be discerning about how you spend time watching television, or taking in movies. Walk away from unwholesome talk, it’s not un-proper. Become transparent, so that HE can show through YOU. Be accountable to others for your Christ-likeness, or lack thereof. Small study groups can be amazing at this. Be mindful that God is EVERPRESENT. Whether in a Church pew, at a office desk, in front of the TV or at the grocery store, God is there, and His ultimate desire is to know you more, so that He can use you for His service. Not to mention his ever-presence should help keep us accountable.
Contemporary Christian Artists, Phillips, Craig, and Dean came out with a song a few years ago about a fathers influence on his children. There was line in that song that has stuck with me over the years, even though more times than not I have failed to live up to it. The line goes something like this, Lord I want to be just like you, because he (my little boy) wants to be just like me. I want to be a holy example for his innocent eyes to see, I want to be a living Bible Lord, that my little boy can read, I want to be just like you, because he wants to be just like me. Ladies can change the he to she, or boy to girl and it still has the same impact.
I included the above to say, in order to be a good example to others we must have pure hearts and cleansed minds. Our ultimate desire in His service should be to imitate His character, and His ways to the very best of our abilities.
Eph. 5: 1
1Timothy 4:16 - Be conscientious about how you live and what you teach. Persevere in this, because by doing so you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.
Be thankful for this moment in time, another day, and another opportunity to get it right!
GrabLifeNow!
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