One of the ways people in Eastern Ukraine were turned to Russia was the turning off of Ukrainian news and allowing only Russian propaganda (RT) into the region. The more you hear one side, the harder it is to comprehend both sides.
I heard a sermon on thoughts yesterday. The speaker reminded us that there are three sources of thought. Truth from God, lies from the devil and our own head.
A couple of weeks ago I read a guy who said we can’t stop thoughts that come into our head, but we have a choice of what to do with them.
The preacher said we have to recognize truth like a bank teller recognizes real money, thus making counterfeit money stand out. How? Bank tellers handle the real thing and thus they spot the fake.
Well, C. S. Lewis tells us we need reminding, and that this reminding comes in the form of “holy reading”… what I call daily devotional reading of the Bible.
I never cease to find a lack of otherwise committed Christians who don’t put enough emphasis on Bible reading because “I’m not moved by it.” Or “it has become dry.”
So what?
You eat even though you may not have your favorite food in front of you, don’t you?
You have time for social media don’t you? Is your life a seeking after pleasure, experience and feeling? Or do you discipline yourself, as Willard taught us, to train your heart and mind. Paul told us in Rom. 12:1-2 to renew our mind.
This involves Bible reading for the sake of handling truth enough that when lies are inserted by the enemy of truth, we can recognize and reject those lies. As Paul said to the Corinthians, “taking every thought captive for Christ.”
Lies will come.
What we do with them is the question.
How we’ve trained ourselves for that is key to what we do with them.
As Spurgeon urged, don’t have a conversation with people until you do so with God, read your Bible, pray. Develop the discipline and then you can deal with the lies that are bound to come!
kingdom travelin' 