Prioritize Your Pursuit

Jews used to believe that consuming or touching the unclean would defile them, but they paid little attention to what was inside of them. Jesus flips the script on them to say, “‘Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them’ . . . He went on: ‘What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person’ ” (Mark 7:19, 20-23, NIV). People were used to pointing out evil around them, but they weren’t used to pointing to the source of that evil: their own hearts. We can point to the sexual immorality all around us and try to run, but we will find that we have no where to go. It’s everywhere. Why? Because it’s in our hearts. The sexual immorality we see around us is a result of our hardened, rebellious, broken hearts. While habits and behavioral changes can sometimes impact our hearts, it can be like taking Tylenol for a severe injury. You may be able to lessen the pain, but the injury still remains. Changing behavior and habits can lessen the temptation, but the lust still has a grip on your heart. So, how do we get a heart transformation? Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (NLT). We know that Christ gives us a new life—and this transformation begins in the heart. While this is a glorious truth, we still struggle with sin on a daily basis. Paul speaks to this specifically in Romans 8, he reminds us that we are no longer controlled by our sinful nature: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live” (8:12-13, NIV). Christ has given us a new heart; and while we may have an inclination to return to our old ways of living, we can trust in Christ to renew our transformed hearts in his grace each day. Reflection/Discussion Question: What does it actually look like to trust in Christ’s grace to transform your heart?

  When we settle for cheap substitutes for the Holy Spirit, it is an act of distrust in the Lord. We choose alcohol for liquid courage because we don’t trust that God can grant us courage. We use sex for comfort because we don’t trust that God can comfort us. We fixate on healthy habits for healing because we don’t trust that God can bring true healing. We don’t trust God’s timing, so we settle for cheap substitutes to get the job done.   When we settle, not only do we miss out on true courage, comfort, and healing from the Holy Spirit, we fall into deeper darkness by pursuing the things of this world. They aren’t just cheap substitutes, they’re deceptive lies. They promise healing and bring pain. They promise fulfillment and leave you empty. They promise comfort and deliver loneliness.  It’s easy to settle for cheap substitutes when we haven’t truly experienced the power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes we do experience the power, but it’s fleeting and we quickly forget once we get wrapped in the troubles of this world. This can happen to new Christians, or the seasoned Christian that has been stuck in seasons of suffering for far too long. Other times, we don’t realize we have never experienced the true power of the Holy Spirit because we’ve been surrounded by Christian environments our whole lives. It is possible to be in Christian environments without personally experiencing the power of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes our cheap substitute is an inspirational sermon on a Sunday without the discipline of walking with the Holy Spirit daily. Sometimes our cheap substitute is our religion. Whatever substitute you are prone to, pursuing a deep relationship with the Holy Spirit begins with identifying the substitute and praying to ask the Holy Spirit to show up in the small moments of your day. As we start to see the Holy Spirit in the small, seemingly insignificant moments, we will begin to see the Holy Spirit working in all areas of our lives. Reflection/Discussion Question: What cheap substitute are you currently replacing the Holy Spirit with in your life?

My wife and I have noticed more and more that our kids misbehave in proportion to the amount of screen time they get… and it’s a distraction at best for us adults. Tonight we put the TV, the tablets and the dvds and video games away. We canceled our subscriptions to prime, Netflix, Hulu, and Disney. We are committed to playing and doing, not watching. We are going to read to and talk to each other and God and disinvite Satan and his influences.

I have removed a lot of things from my circle, but the reason for this because I want to put yes is first and put him in my circle cause I believe he can make it bigger and brighter. I want to share this and help more people to understand and see what Jesus has done and continues to do for me! So he can do the same for them!