IT'S YOUR MIND

Some time ago, my wife and I were awakened in the middle of the night by a noise. It sounded like someone was trying to get in our front door. The doorknob rattled like someone was trying to turn it, not once, but twice.

We prayed – very quietly! – about what to do, and then with no little amount of apprehension, we got out of bed and started turning on lights. I shouted, “Is anybody there?” as if I were expecting an answer. Right.

Much to our relief, nobody was there – we checked every room and closet, along with the garage and outside. All we found was that the gate into the back yard was standing open – but the wind had occasionally been doing that by itself.

We went back to bed, prayed a prayer of thanks to God, and went back to sleep.

We were not unaffected, however. A couple of nights later my wife had a dream that someone was breaking into our house. We bought a much-needed new front door – with a dead-bolt lock. I fixed the latch on the back yard gate.

Why? Because not everyone is welcome in our home. Nor should they be. Most especially, thieves and burglars aren’t welcome.

The fast is, there are locks on the doors of our houses for a reason.

Unfortunately, many, if not most, Americans have taken the locks off the doors of our minds.

When it comes to what we think and believe, we have learned to let almost anything in. Our society has developed a tragic open-door policy about thoughts and values, ideas and images. Spiritual burglars are prowling the conceptual streets of our culture, and we seem willing to let any of them in who knock.

We have been sold a bill of goods by the devil. We have been led to suppose that any thought which happens along is worthy to be welcomed into our hearts and minds. Satan’s servants rattle the doorknobs of our imaginations, and find easy entry.

The tragedy of open hearts and open minds is evidenced by out of control consumer debt, driven by a “see it, want it, buy it” approach to living. The burgeoning pornography industry takes advantage of our unlocked mental gates by breaking into many of our TV’s and computers, along with many of our hearts and minds.

Open-mindedness is obviously not all it’s cracked up to be.

We who are Christians face the challenge to control our imaginative processes, to “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). We need to “be transformed by the renewing of our minds” (Romans 12:2). We are charged, “whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable . . . think about these things” (Philippians 4:8).

It’s time to close your mind to the evils around you. Get a dead-bolt lock for your heart. Install a security system for your imagination. Don’t let unwelcome thoughts or unwholesome imaginations break in.

It’s your mind. Protect it.