The Christian Homekeeper™

Continuing on with studying the Mind of Christ…….

So far we have determined that the mind of Christ is …
Set on the Spirit and peace - Romans 8:6
Single-minded - 2 Corinthians 11:3
Lowly - Philippians 2:3

Today I am thinking about how the mind of Christ is pure.

“For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans 8:6

The natural state of the Christian, what Watchman Nee called the Normal Christian Life, is one that is filled with the Holy Spirit and growing continually in Christ Jesus. There’s a lot out there that can make it very difficult to maintain purity. The computer you are reading this ois a major source of temptation for some people, maybe you are one. TV, computer, magazines; they all make temptation seem bigger and harder to avoid.

T.W. Hunt said, “In order to overcome the temptation toward impurity you muct want to be pure. Until that desire becomes your passion, you will be overwhelmed by the impressions flooding into your senses.”

So our desire for overcoming must be great, and if it is God will provide a way for us to avoid those temptations that bring along impurity of thought and life. In fact God has provided a great way to avoid impurity….. ” I will set no wicked thing before my eyes.” Psalm 101:3. Overcoming temptation has to be decided on and acted on before the temptation ever confronts us.

Often when we think of avoiding temptation and those things I mentioned before like TV, computer, etc., we think of men and how they are bombarded with pornography. But since my audience is almost exclusively women, I want to take a moment to speak frankly about temptation and women.

There are a lot of times you are tempted throughout the day and you may not even be aware of what is going on, you may be shutting out the voice of the Holy Spirit, because you aren’t in tune with His voice or because you don’t think its all that serious to be tempted. After all, you’re not looking at pornography, you’re not stealing anything and you’re not having an affair. What else could tempt a woman on the computer, much less tempt her to sin?

There are a ton of blogs out there where women are innocently sharing their day and their victories or struggles. But there are a ton of women out there reading who are tempted to be envious or jealous. There are some really interesting fictional novels out there with heroines who have commendable character traits and good story lines. But there are women who read them who become unsatisfied with their own husbands and their own lives. They want to recreate their life to reflect something they see in a fictional novel and it causes conflict in their marriage. And those women think, “if he could just be like that man in the story I read”…..

The Psalmist wrote that he would not put any wicked thing before his eyes. In refusing to even put that wicked thing where he could see it, he was protecting his mind so that it could continue to grow and reflect the mind of Christ.

If something becomes a source of temptation for me, if something tempts me to be jealous, anxious, envious….. then for me it really is wicked and I need to avoid it.  God has shown us that the safest way, the best way, to maintain our purity in the face of temptation is to avoid it.  In fact, in many areas of His Word, God tells us not to just avoid temptation but to flee from it! 

If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, [even] the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;  He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.  But godliness with contentment is great gain……

But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.  1 Timothy 6:3-5, 11

What is there that you need to flee from today?