Don’t Let Temptation Move In – The door was always open, and the house was always full. I remember that about my parents. They liked to entertain and welcomed everyone into their home.
They hosted Bible studies, missionaries, Bible College students, and guest speakers from the church. The welcome mat was worn, and the coffee pot was on.
Until one day, when things took an odd turn.
I remember standing at the kitchen counter with my mom one afternoon, when a gentleman from church walked into our house with a suitcase in his hand. With a quick hello, he walked past us into a bedroom and put his bags onto the bed. One look at mom told me that she just as shocked as I was.
Sure, he had been to our house to visit before, but this time it was different. This time, he was moving himself in. It’s one thing to entertain people, it’s a whole different ball game when they decide to move in.
As I got to thinking about that today, I was reminded how this parallels our thoughts in many ways. An open-door policy isn’t the safest way to guard our heart. In fact, the Bible tells us to guard our heart with all diligence. We need to stand guard when it comes to our thoughts and reject temptation when it knocks on our door.
Here’s the thing about temptation. It lurks in the shadows waiting and hoping that you’ll invite it back in. If and when you do, it unpacks a suitcase and moves in to stay.
I’m not saying we should lock our doors and keep people out, not by any means. What I am saying that we need to be just as careful with our hearts as we are with our homes. We need to filter the thoughts we allow through the lens of God’s Word, asking ourselves the important questions:
Does it glorify God, or does it glorify sin?
We need to stand guard. We need to be safe. We need to be wise.
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Tilling the Soil
Think of four practical ways to guard your heart and mind this week and put them into practice.
Planting Hope
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any praise, think on these things. (Philippians 4:8, KJV)
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Darlene Schacht and her husband Michael live in Manitoba Canada where the summers are beautiful and the winters are cold. Together they’ve come to learn that relationships aren’t always easy, but that marriage, the way God intended it to be, is a treasure worth fighting for.
She began her publishing journey about twelve years ago when she pioneered one of the first online magazines for Christian women, known at the time as “Christian Women Online Magazine.” After three years, Darlene left CWO to blog as a solo author at Time-Warp Wife Ministries.
It was also during this transition that she worked alongside actress Candace Cameron Bure to write the NYT Best-Selling book, Reshaping it All: Motivation for Spiritual and Physical Fitness. Reshaping it All was the winner of both the 2011 USA Best Book Awards and the 2012 Christian Reading Retailers Choice Awards.
Author of more than 15 books, Darlene continues to write and to minister to her readers through her blog at TimeWarpWife.com.
Connect with Darlene:
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You are loved by an almighty God,
Darlene Schacht
The Time-Warp Wife