Tuesday, April 29, 2014

a busy mind

In his book, The Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis makes many... and I do mean MANY great points that allow us to give thought to the ways of how demons think, move, act, etc... and he does so with a comic reprieve that allows us to come to a place of understanding the absolute impossibility of anything of Satan overcoming the bride of Christ. If you have never read the book, go... like right now, go... give it a read

At one point in the book we read in a letter from Screwtape, to his nephew Wormword a great look into the truth of our Christian experience...

 “It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out.”

Have you ever found that your worst days, your deepest struggles, or your moments of strongest doubt often occur during moments of inner silence? Maybe I'm strange, but I have a fairly constant inner monologue... and I have found it to be true in my life that as long as I keep my thoughts running, and keep my mind alert to my surroundings, that sin seems to be less likely to creep into the corners of my life. Even more so when I am most in-tune with the inner voice, and tending to it with study of the scripture, listening to sermons, investing in my relationship with Christ. As that relationship grows, my monologue revolves more around the things of God, and my focus is more on seeking His glory in all that I do. It is the moments when I try to shut down or ignore my mind... the moments when I try to quiet things too much, those are the times when I find myself suddenly coasting along the soft, gradual slope of sinful thought. My sinful nature must be held in check, and that requires actively placing into my consciousness, the things of God. When these thoughts are removed from active thought, I default to my simpler nature, and thus the words of Screwtape are proved to be true. It is not the work of Satan to fill our minds with sin... but to block out thoughts of glory. Our great enemy knows that is the path of least resistance.

If the Word of God is living and active, then shouldn't we keep it so in our minds? Don't spend so much time trying to quiet your mind... rather tend to your thoughts, weed out the garden of your mind, nourish the seeds of God's glory. It is much easier to see a snake in the grass when the garden is well tended than when the weeds are high.

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