Everyone has probably heard the expression that “the eyes are the windows to the soul.” This is true but the eyes are only one of the many windows we have. All five of our senses can become a snare if we leave them unguarded. Satan is not choosy about how he enters, just as long as he gets in.
The people who say or think that they cannot be influenced are only fooling themselves. We all are influenced throughout our lives whether we realize it or not. It comes in many forms from the people we call our friends, to teachers and parents, to all kinds of media. Influence has been going on from the very beginning and is even more prevalent today. Why? Because we refuse to separate ourselves from this world. We cannot get closer to God and yet stay close to the world. Some things simply have to be let go; this is called sacrifice.
Why did Jesus run the moneychangers out of the Temple? Because they were not using it for God’s intended purpose. Paul said in Corinthians that our body is a temple and that the Spirit of God dwells there. This includes our mind. When we became a new person after salvation, do we keep on reading all the same stuff we did before? Do we continue and justify it by saying to ourselves that we are strong enough not to let it influence us? That is what Satan is hoping for. Now I am certainly not saying that every book outside of the Bible will cause us to sin but we must be careful on what we let influence our thoughts. If we have teenagers do we let them read non-Christian teen magazines or other material that does not go along with what God has to say? Do we ourselves continue to read the same books and magazines we always have that may be full of profanity or with ideas that are not pleasing to God? Just the other day my daughter began to read a book that one of our friends had lent her and then put it down. She decided on her own that it was not something she should read because of the content. Have we ever done that? Satan loves to come into open windows especially those we don’t even realize are open, but Satan cannot enter into God’s Temple on his own. How cluttered are our Temples? If Jesus came inside your Temple today how many things would He have to throw out?
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