Overcoming temptation, part II

16"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them.
17"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?
18But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.'
19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
20These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'
Matthew 15:16-20 (NIV)

In my previous post about overcoming temptation, I wrote about my struggles with controlling over-eating, abstaining from cigarette smoking and alcohol abuse. However, if we become too focused about matters such as eating, drinking, and smoking, more important areas of spiritual life can be overlooked. The Pharisees which Jesus encountered were so concerned about following rules obsessively, that they were unable to treat others with compassion.

In the scripture above, Jesus is countering the Jewish ritual concerns about what is "clean" and "unclean" with an admonition to keep the heart pure of evil thoughts, and to control our speech as it reflects the state of our heart.

The temptation to sin grows if we allow ourselves to cultivate sinful thoughts. If we hold pride, lust, envy, jealousy, anger, resentment, revenge in our hearts, then it isn't long before our speech begins to reflect our inner state. Our failure to control our thoughts, and our speech, may then lead to greater sins as our sinful thought transforms from thought, to word, and then to action.

6The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
7the sinful mind^[b] is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
Romans 8:6-8, (NIV)

Romans 8:6-8 teaches more about the importance of controlling our minds in order to be strong against sin, but it goes deeper. In order to keep our minds from being controlled by sin, we must willingly submit control of our mind to God. If we allow the Holy Spirit to reign over our thoughts, we will enjoy life and peace. If we allow ourselves to think sinful thoughts, then we are in rebellion to God, and we will find it harder to resist acting on our sinful impulses and we will hasten our spiritual death.

So, how do we submit our thoughts to God, how do we give control of our thoughts to the Spirit?

• Learn the Word! Memorize important scriptures, thereby filling your mind with His Word. Then in times of weakness, recall those scriptures.
  
• Affirm the Word, and affirm your faith in the word! Affirm that the Holy Spirit is the guardian of your mind.
• Be on guard! We live in a media driven world, the average American is exposed to thousands of messages: advertisements, TV programming, news. It is important to develop media and information literacy and critical thinking. We must be aware of how our media exposure shapes our thoughts and beliefs; especially the effect it has on young children who absorb media messages before they have attained critical thinking skills.
  
• Limit our media consumption, filter our usage. Think about what TV shows we frequently watch, especially while our children are around. For some people, watching the evening news can trigger feelings of depression and hopelessness.
• If you are tempted to think negatively, practice putting away the negative thought and replacing it with a more positive thought. Often people succumb to emotional thinking that is distorted and false, they become blind to seeing other options.
  

You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. James 4:4 (NIV)

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2 (NIV)

⁸Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:8-9 (NRSV)

I share these scriptures because the Word truly is Life to me. For so long I fell into a pattern of negative thinking which fueled my depression and anxiety. But when I feel the temptation to think negatively about situations, I am trying to replace the thought with a more positive thought, and the Bible is my source for much affirming thought. I often form these "revised thoughts" as a short prayer.

Example:
Initial thought: My situation is hopeless, it will never improve.
Revised thought: I am tempted to feel hopeless about this situation, but I have faith in God to help carry me through everything.
Prayer: God, I am tempted to feel hopeless about my situation. Help me have courage to make changes which can improve this situation, help me have serenity to accept what I cannot change, grant me strength to endure this challenge, grace under pressure, and wisdom to discern Your Will in this situation. Please guard my heart with your Holy Spirit, help me to resist responding to this situation in a wrong way, and may Your Will be done.