Psalm 51:10
"Create
in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me."
(NKJV)
Whenever I check my e-mail, I see that there are
numerous messages of indeterminate nature in the junk box! No matter how often I
sweep them away or block them, there are still more to replace them the next
time I look. Even the titles of some of these messages make my skin crawl, and I
wish I could completely block them from coming into my box. But my security
settings are already at the highest level, so the system is obviously inadequate
to deal with the influx of mindless garbage that still manages to filter
through.
Junk mail reminds me of sin. It is insidious and
ever-flowing. It respects no boundaries and can be difficult to eliminate from
our lives. It manifests itself in words, thoughts, actions, deceptions, and
distractions of all kinds, and it can seep into our lives despite our meagre
efforts to block it.
The best and most effective way to clean up sin is to
call upon God -- to give the problem to Him and trust Him for all we're worth.
When we receive Jesus into our lives, He gives us His Holy Spirit, who equips us
for the lifelong battle of discerning good from bad and right from wrong, often
in ways that we would not have recognized or been willing to utilize before
that. God's intervention is the only way to clean up our lives totally. Giving
control of everything to Him on a daily basis causes our words, thoughts, and
actions to change -- they are cleaned up and made acceptable. The junk will not
vanish from our lives, but we'll find that we become better equipped and more
adept in our efforts to recognize it and seek God's forgiveness and power to
change.
Isaiah 1:16-17 - Wash yourselves, make yourselves
clean; put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil,
learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless,
plead for the widow. (NKJV)
In other words, we are called to stop doing wrong,
however insignificant it might seem! God sees and knows all our rights and
wrongs!
Prayer: Father, there are so many lurid distractions
around us. So many people spend their lives sending out these messages,
attempting to trap innocent and naive minds with their seemingly captivating
baits. Help us to be guided in Your ways by Your Word. Each time sin pops up,
enable us to block it from our lives, keeping our minds, bodies, and spirits
pure and unpolluted from the refuse and gossip of the Internet and the world! In
Jesus' name. Amen.
Patricia Day
pattersday@gmail.com
Barrie, Ontario, Canada
Thanks to http://daily.presbycan.ca
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