Last Tuesday, I talked about how prayer has been an important part of how I am preparing my heart for Kingdom living. Having an avenue to speak to the Creator is an awesome and powerful tool for me. But today, I want to share the next thing I started to focus on to prepare my heart for Kingdom living. It’s the practice of purposefully filling my mind with good things.
This aspect of Kingdom living is too important to leave to the whim of the environment we live in. Even if we do not actively go after evil thoughts, unless we are strategic in what we put into our minds, the evil thoughts will find their way in. Paul addresses this as he instructs,
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8 ESV).
So, how do I strategically put good things into my mind while limiting the opportunity for evil things to come in? For me, it’s a two-pronged plan. First, I fill my idle time with constructive or wholesome thoughts. When I am in my car, I listen to a select few podcasts by Christians who speak on spiritual things. When I go for my walks, I listen to encouraging audio books or sermons on YouTube.
Second, I limit empty-calorie entertainment. While there might not be anything wrong with watching TV shows or YouTube videos of cute kittens doing silly things, I often found myself letting hours slip away before realizing the day was already spent. Now, I am very judicious with the good things I let pass into my mind. Proverbs 23:7 says, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” What we think about are the things that we let occupy our minds.
Here are some other activities I guard against. I’m not saying that they are wrong, but for me, they get in the way of me putting good things in if they take control of my time or my thoughts: mobile games, binge-able TV show seasons, any movie or show with questionable content or language, click-bait websites that send me mindlessly from one site to another, 24/7 news programs, and the list goes on and on. Yeah, I let a lot of empty content take up way too much of my brain’s real estate.
What I learned is that Satan is not too concerned about me putting lewd and evil thoughts into my mind. He is content with me filling my mind with worthless thoughts so that there is no room for the things that Paul encouraged me to think about in Philippians 4.
This idea of putting in good and keeping out bad is beautifully taught by Jesus as he describes the role that the eye plays as the mind’s gatekeeper:
“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” (Matthew 6:22-23 ESV).
So here’s the conclusion that I have learned on how to prepare my heart for Kingdom living:
1. I am in control of what I let into my mind and what I will think about.
2. What I choose to let in will affect the kind of heart I have.
3. Choosing what to think about is a purposeful action. Good things won’t just happen to come into my mind on their own, though evil things will.
If you want to have a good heart that will prepare you for Kingdom living, then fill your heart with good and think on things that give it the building blocks it needs. This has been vital for me. When I take control of what I let into my mind, it is easier for my spiritual man to win his battles. When I grow lax and let evil or empty thoughts dominate, my carnal man inevitably launches a strong battle against me as he is fed by the sin I let in.
So far, I have talked about the importance of Bible reading, prayer, and putting the right things into my mind. These things have been so important for me to take my bad heart and prepare it for Kingdom living. Next week, I will discuss something that involves other people. This has been so important to me in preparing my heart for Kingdom living I dare say it might be a deal-breaker if I had never spent the time cultivating this within my heart.
In my daily Bible reading, I am in Joshua. It is a wonderful book of faith as we witness God doing amazing things for the Israelites.
I love the story of the Israelites crossing the Jordan river. What a sight! The children of the generation who crossed the Red Sea were privileged to experience what their parents experienced.
But I have always read this crossing from the perspective of the Israelites... until today.
God told Moses that He would make His name great before all nations and glorify his name through the Exodus and His power over mighty Egypt.
Imagine the sight from the Canaanites’ perspective when they saw the water of the mighty Jordan heap by the city of Adam and the Israelites walk on dry land toward their city.
Truly, their hearts would melt within them.
God’s name would be glorified. The Canaanite’s sins were now full, and God would judge them through the Israelites who walked with their God across the Jordan on dry ground, and there was nothing they could do to stand against this God.
I’m finishing up the book of Joshua in my daily Bible reading. In chapter 20, God talks to Joshua about setting up the cities of refuge that He talked to Moses about.
These were cities where someone who accidentally killed a man could flee for refuge. Here is the thing that just struck me as I read this today:
God had the foresight to see all the circumstances the Israelites would need in a government. We set up a legislature and a system of amendments to adjust as we learn better ways to govern.
But when God wrote the Law for the people, there was no legislator, no new laws as they learned new needs, and no amendments.
Isn’t it amazing how God is so much higher than man? He gets it right the first time. We see His wisdom in the creation of the cities of refuge.
Truly, God created a government for people with zero experience in governing, and for thousands of years, it needed no amendments.
The giving of the Law of Moses is evidence of God’s existence, love, and grace for His people, and it is underscored in the establishment of the cities of refuge.
“Say to the people of Israel, ‘Appoint the cities of refuge, of which I spoke to you through Moses,
that the manslayer who strikes any person without intent or unknowingly may flee there. They shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood.” (Joshua 20:2-3 ESV).
I have started reading Psalm in my daily Bible reading. What a wonderful book to find comfort and to find words for a troubled soul when words are hard to find.
I love the words in the tenth Psalm. It speaks to men when we forget about the Lord’s all-seeing eyes.
“He says in his heart, “God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he will never see it.”
Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up your hand; forget not the afflicted.
Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?” (Psalm 10:11-13 ESV).
Why should I do good? It’s because the eyes of the Lord are always upon us. He sees all and is never fooled. This is the help we need to choose right and never wrong.
“But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation, that you may take it into your hands; to you the helpless commits himself; you have been the helper of the fatherless.” (Psalm 10:14 ESV).
Amen.
I don’t care what you think the divine council is...
I don’t care who you think the sons of the Most High are...
You can’t read this Psalm and walk away from these facts:
1. God the Father is the Most High.
2. He expects others to administer justice to the weak, the destitute, and the orphans.
3. Those who don’t will answer to Him.
“A Psalm of Asaph. God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;
nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.” (Psalm 82:1-7 ESV).
I need to remind myself of this important fact,
God wishes me to do less study and more living what I study.
Study is to equip me for good and not a means unto itself.
When I stand before the righteous Judge, I will not answer a quiz to assess my knowledge to determine my eternity.
My Judge will ask,
“When I was naked, did you clothe Me?” He will not ask, “Did you know you were supposed to clothe Me?”
My Judge will ask,
“When I was hungry, did you feed me?” He will not ask, “Did you study that you should feed Me?”
My Judge will ask, “When I was sick and in prison, did you visit Me?” He will not ask, “In all your Bible reading, did you read that you should visit Me?”
My Judge will ask,
“When I was thirsty, did you give Me something to drink?” He will not ask, “When you taught Bible classes or wrote Facebook posts, did you tell people to give Me something to drink?”
Study is not the end. Study is to equip me to live the Gospel message of grace and to prepare me to stand before my King and Judge as His disciple.
In the end, disciples study to know how to follow. We don’t study to profess our knowledge.
“Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’
Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’“ (Matthew 25:44-45 ESV).
In my daily Bible reading, I’m in Psalm. David wrote the 51st Psalm after He committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her faithful husband, Uriah.
In this Psalm, David owns his sin and lays it before God, asking for a new, clean heart which he pleads for God to create in him. Haven’t we all felt this longing at times?
Listen to what David says as he zeros in on the crux of the situation:
“For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:16-17 ESV).
It is a consistent theme in both the Old Testament and the New Testament that God wishes us to do “the weightier matters of the Law” (judgment, mercy, and faith- Matthew 23:23) before the lesser things. In fact, Jesus also says,
“Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:13 ESV).
But as people, we have always set sacrifices up as preeminent. While they are important, they are not what the Lord desires most from us.
When we put sacrifices first, we start down the road of legalism and self-justification. David knew this. Sacrifices must come from a clean heart that seeks the weightier matters. Without the weightier matters, sacrifices are nothing. They are just a checklist of tasks we do to make us feel better because of our own deliverance.
That’s why David goes on to say,
“Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem;
then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be offered on your altar.” (Psalm 51:18-19 ESV).
Sacrifices will not help us if we do not perform them from a clean heart that seeks the weightier matters first.
If our King returned in 30 minutes, how would that affect your schedule?
Would He be an inconvenience?
One day, He will be 30 minutes away from returning.
Are you ready to greet Him today?