Stop Filling Your Mind With Junk!

 

Can I be real with you for a few minutes? I’ve had just about all I can take of the Covid news, posts, memes, videos, conversations and so on!

This morning, as I read my Bible, it was like something just snapped. A little voice inside my head said, “Enough is enough!”

And straight away, some very well-known verses in Philippians came to mind.

Philippians 4:6-8

 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Now, I haven’t said a whole lot about this crazy pandemic, but I feel like it’s gotten to a point where I want to put my two cents in, for what it’s worth.

I have to be honest with you, I am sick and tired of hearing about Covid related talk from well-meaning Christians, who after listening to a good and Godly sermon and sharing in a time of worship together, seem to have nothing better to do than discuss the latest news stories and mandates and lockdowns.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I know we have a serious situation on our hands, and I’m not trying to downplay it in anyway.  I know that we need to be informed. I understand that it’s important that we stand for what we believe in and obey the commands of the Lord, but is anybody out there feeling like somewhere, along the way, the Devil has used this whole pandemic thing to distract us and take our focus off things of eternal value?

The Devil is a cunning and deceitful being, who loves nothing more than seeing Christians lose their focus and their God-given roles and start putting all their energies into other things that are not as important as winning the lost.

I feel like the Devil is looking around, gleefully rubbing his hands together, watching the discouraged, distracted Christians spout their opinions to anyone who’ll listen, instead of just focusing on preaching to a very lost, and on their way to hell, world!

Hey, I’m not perfect and there are times when I don’t redirect the conversation back to the things of the Lord when I probably should, so I’m preaching to myself as well.

Anyway, back to the verses in Philippians. I think that all the news we hear on a daily basis is making so many people, Christians included, fearful and anxious. But these verses remind us to bring our requests to God and he will bring the peace into our lives and hearts that we so desperately crave.

We are not to be anxious about anything! We’re to pray about everything! And how do we do this practically speaking? By filling our minds with the right things. Stop filling your mind with junk!

Philippians 4 verse 8 gives us a list of what we should be thinking on.

 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Just have a look at the list in light of the Covid news feeds and endless misinformation.

Is it TRUE?    Nope!

Is it HONEST?  Huh! Not likely!

Is it JUST? RIGHTEOUS? VIRTUOUS?     Definitely not!

Is it PURE?    A no brainer! Nope, again!

Is it LOVELY?   No. Not at all!

Do you get the point? The Bible tells us to set our minds on good things if we want to find peace. If we want to rid ourselves of the anxiety and fearfulness we are feeling, we have to tip out the junk in our minds, and replace it with good, hearty, Godly things! We need a diet change.

Endless news feeds, overwhelming stories of despair and hopelessness are not the things we should be continually dieting on.

Meditating on the Word of God is paramount now, more than ever before!

The lost world is in need of words of hope. They don’t need to hear Christians continually talking about the pandemic. This world is in a pandemic alright. It’s called SIN. It’s a sin pandemic. You don’t even have to look out your back door to realise that!

What the world needs is Jesus!

I was not only convicted by these verses, but also a little bit steamed up when I began to think of the testimony that some, not all, Christians are portraying.

I, personally, want my daily walk to be one that draws the lost, not repels them. I want them to see something different in me. I want them to see that I don’t live in fear. I want to be able to give the world words of hope.

1 Peter 3:15

 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

The world is sick of hearing about the pandemic too! What they need to hear from a child of God is a reason for the hope that is in us. But why would they even ask if all they see is despair and debate and disunity?

So, here’s a challenge for you? The next time you are fellowshipping after church, see if you can make a conscious effort to NOT mention ANYTHING about Covid at all, and steer any conversation about it, back to the things of the Lord. Talk about what you heard in the sermon that day, or what God has been teaching you in your personal quiet time, or maybe share a blessing you were given that week.

I dare you! Have a Covid free, God honouring, Bible based discussion with your fellow brethren, and see if maybe, just maybe, you leave church with a spring in your step and joy in your heart!

Philippians 1:27-28

 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.