The western sky pinkened, anticipating the sunrise to come. The air was thick and still, like the low lying fog hugging the water. Silence ruled the morning, only challenged by an occasional distant mallard hen welcoming home family. It was Thanksgiving Day.He felt his mind finally slowing down, weary from the daily bombardments back in the city. It was nice to be free from the constant invasion of those relentless thoughts and temptations back home. He breathed deeply, inhaling the misty air and let the peace intoxicate him. The fog levitated, revealing dark, glassy water and allowed the reeds, cattails, and salt cedars to catch their first glimpse of the day and radiate their new fall colors. This was life."Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Cor. 5: 17) Even though we are a new creation when we decide to follow Christ, we must still deal with the influx of thoughts and temptations because of our inherent sinful nature. Fantasy, envy, lust, wild ambitions, jealousy, passion for money and power, and resentment are just a few of the obvious ones. It is no secret that the real battle for Christians is for their minds. If we allow these thoughts to continually sow their seeds, they may grow into sin, compromising our position and personal relationship with Christ himself! This is the gravest danger of leading a secret thought life.It is important to note that the thoughts and temptations themselves are not sins, but to take them one step farther leads right where Satan wants us to be. It is Satan's voice when we beat ourselves down to a defeated faith and doubt our salvation, asking, "How can I be a true Christian and still have these thoughts? Am I really forgiven? Does God truly care about me personally?"Sometimes it seems like we are going a hundred miles an hour from when we wake up until we go to sleep. It is an endless sequence of simply reacting compulsively to the day's scheduled events. We might even lay our heads on our pillows at night and feel bad because we forgot to spend time with God during the day. If we can't step out into nature's wild outdoors, we might can take time to take a "walk through the garden" mentally. Read through the first part of Genesis to understand the setting of creation. It is a scene of perfection with man and woman at one with God and nature. It depicts the close walk of a personal relationship where interactions are real. It is a picture of true life, created by hands of love, and there is peace. So when our world is spinning out from under our feet and evil thoughts come flooding in, take a time out; take a walk with God through the garden. There is power in knowing that we as new creations can avoid taking those consequential steps into sin. It is the power of His calling us to be holy, as He is holy. To God be the glory.Next week: Accountability: The Missing Link.
