Reading through Ezekiel recently
I took note of this description:
“I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all
around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the
idols of the house of Israel. And before them stood seventy men of the elders
of the house of Israel… Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the
cloud of incense went up… ‘Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the
house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they
say, “The Lord does not see us...”’” (8:10-12 ESV).
Though written millennia ago,
this almost sounds like modern day. We may not be burning incense, but nearly
every house in our country has a room of moving pictures that distract us from
worshiping the one true God. It’s easy to forget that God sees what happens in
our homes even when no one else may know.
David said in Psalm 101:2-3a- “I
will ponder the way that is blameless… I will walk with integrity of heart
within my house. I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.” Some
commentaries assert that this was written before David assumed the throne, and
therefore before his sin with Bathsheba. Even the “man after God’s own heart”
didn’t follow through with his good intentions. How much more vulnerable are
we?
Brennan Manning wrote, “The gift
of radical discipleship is pure grace to those who have no claim to it, for the
deepest desires of our heart are not in our control. Were this not so, we
simply would will those desires and be done with it” (The Signature of Jesus, 12). While we live on this earth, we live with
conflicting desires. As Paul testified in Romans 7, we want to do what is
right, but “evil lies close at hand” (7:21). Job said, “I have made a covenant
with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin” (31:1). Few have made such a
covenant, and even fewer have kept it. Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount
have convicted me lately:
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall
not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you
that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever
insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You
fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire… You have heard that it was said,
‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a
woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart”
(Matthew 5:21-22, 27-28).
When we remember to include our
thoughts in the tally, we all sin on a regular basis in one way or another. We
look at things we shouldn’t, desire things that we can’t or shouldn’t have, fantasize
about some other life, worship recreation instead of God, and carry around
bitterness and anger in our hearts.
“The things we think on are the things that feed our souls.
If we think on pure and lovely things, we will grow pure and lovely like them;
and the converse is equally true. Very few people realize this, and
consequently there is a great deal of carelessness, even with careful people,
in regard to their thoughts. They guard their words and actions with the utmost
care, but their thoughts, which are the very root of everything in character
and life, they neglect entirely. So long as it is not put into spoken words,
what goes on in the mind seems of no consequence. No one hears or knows, and
therefore they imagine that the vagrant thoughts that come and go do no harm.
Such persons are careless about the food offered to their thoughts and accept
without discrimination anything that comes” (Hannah Whitall Smith, God Is Enough, 122).
“Let the… meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord,
my Rock and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).
© 2018 Dawn Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright
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