Abiding in God's Word

Spiritual Awareness

“The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore, your eye is good, your whole body shall be full of light. But if your eye is evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If, therefore, the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” – Matthew 6:19-24

What kinds of things do you spend most of your time thinking about?
Be honest as you ponder this question, although spiritual blindness caused by worldly living can make honesty difficult. Most people who are living in the world expend the majority of their energy thinking about their bank accounts, stock portfolios, entertainment, cars, houses, relatives, and friends; or they spend their time trying to figure out how a misunderstood conversation turned into a full-blown argument. Focusing on all of these material things is an indication of worldly living.
I called myself a Christian, but I was not abiding like one, and even worse, I did not realize it. For years I was not studying the Bible, nor did I diagnose my spiritual growth. I lived how I wanted to live – ignoring God’s will, not putting Him first. Why? I was blinded by a supernatural enemy Satan, Prince of this world. He structures the world’s system of thinking and has demons following him. He has people on his team, but they are not being attacked.
Why, you ask?
They are already on his side.
I did not know it until I started reading the Bible for myself. I fell into a continual pattern of sin and focused most of my time on worldly things. I started to hang out with people who looked beautiful on the outside, but their hearts where full of deceit. We spent so much time talking about ourselves, handbags, the latest fashions, gossip you name it, everything except my Lord and savior Jesus Christ. We totally failed to acknowledge our real purpose in life – and that is to serve God!
I began to hurt, knowing I was not honoring God. I knew something was not right. My sister Anita kept asking me what was wrong. She said, “Why are you complaining so much? If I had your life, I would be so happy.”
The truth was, Anita only saw the external me, not the internal me. I started to hate what I viewed and discussed as having fun. Something inside of me just didn’t feel peaceful. That something was the Holy Spirit. God has his way of getting our attention – by revealing our sins in our life. Most people just hum away and ignore him which I had done several times in the past. This time was different, however. I began to drift away from certain people, and the more I sought advice in ungodly places, the more depressed I became. Be careful who you seek advice from; ungodly women give ungodly advice.
Wisdom tells us in Proverbs 12:5-6, “The thoughts of the righteous are just, but guidance from the wicked leads to deceit. The words of the wicked are a deadly ambush, but the speech of the upright rescues them.”
We all have to be careful who we take advice from. It’s only natural that we reach out to others during times of trouble, but reaching out to the wrong people can ruin our lives. God puts certain people in our lives to guide us, but He isn’t the only one who allows the words and works of others to help us. Satan also places people in our lives, although the people he places there are meant to mislead us. We even have to be discerning with the churches we attend and the pastors who lead us, always remembering that they are human as well.
In Exodus 20:17, God warns us not to covet. What is that? Unlawful desires and thoughts and loving things more than people describes it best.
Yes, covet is one of the Ten Commandments most people seem to forget. Now, the purpose of this commandment is for us to love with a pure heart, from a good conscience and with sincere faith. Have you ever pretended to like someone and deep down really hate them?
Hebrew 13 and Luke 12:15 talks more about covetousness. “…A faithful man will abound with blessings, but he who hastens to be rich will not go unpunished.”
The Bible continually warns us not to be greedy, although Luke 16:14-15 tells us that the Pharisees certainly were:
Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him. And Jesus said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
The Pharisees were so earthbound that all they could see were their worldly possessions. God warns us against this lifestyle. 1 Corinthians 10:31 reads, “Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.”
The problem begins for us when we do things for our own glory and indulge our worldly lifestyle. Of course trials like the ones caused by Satan and those he chooses to use in evil ways (like the Pharisees) are a part of life. God allows these trials so that we may become stronger. He allows us to experience spiritual blindness for a time, but our growth requires us to take the next step. Normally when you experience a trial its God trying to get you to release something that you want to holding onto; he wants you to let it go.
There are more and more Christians unknowingly living in blindness. In the Bible Jesus’ brother James shares with us in the very first chapter of James verses 13-15:
No one undergoing a trial should say, ‘I am being tempted by God.’ For God is not tempted by evil, and He Himself doesn’t tempt anyone. But each person is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own evil desires. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.
All Satan needs is a seed to grow inside of you, and that seed will come directly from worldly life. We all have a choice to make: whether we want to lay our treasure on Heaven or on Earth. We can choose whether we are going to live in the light or in the darkness, whether we will serve God or money – but we can’t choose both of these options.
Only true repentance will save you – not by remorse or reformation, but a voluntary and sincere change of heart. Jesus said in John 15:16:
You have not chosen me – for I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that what so ever you ask in my name, he may give it to you.
Now let’s reflect for a minute. Has God given you grace? Are you walking in obedience according to words of the Holy Bible? Are you living like a true Christian or a Carnal Christian? God knows the truth about us, so if you lie, you are only fooling yourself. Once we were slaves and strangers to the covenant, but Jesus paid the price for our freedom a long time ago.
We are all victims of the impressions that our culture makes upon us. Worldly ambition has a strong fascination for us, and the spell of materialism is very hard to break. Making the right choice is very difficult, but it can be done as long as we let the Spirit of God lead us and dwell in us. Choose where to lay your treasure, “…for where your treasure is, that’s where your heart will be also.”