| These days life is full of exciting events and sites. For those who create time off work, there is a lot to enjoy. There are fun games, sun bathing, cliff-diving, swimming contests, hikes, beach walks and bush walks, visits to game parks, historical sights, museums, and monumental parks among many others. Still there is visit to homes for the destitute and the elderly, tree planting, visit to countryside and reflection retreats. We have a real variety to choose from. All these events provide exciting and relaxing moments and off-work climate suitable for bodies that have passed through days or weeks of hassles and haggles.
We as Christians however need to be careful during these times because of several reasons. During some of these events, our bodies and minds are idling hence susceptible to evil thoughts engineered by Satan. It’s during personal reflections that some people find life worthless and may decide to commit suicide. It’s during fun games that jokes are taken too far and indeed lies are spoken. It’s during sun bathing that fleshly passions run high due to the nude bodies in beaches hence causing beachgoers to sin by way of lust. Weekends have been marked by a lot of indulgence in drinking, anti-spiritual melodramatic movies and soap operas and unspeakable forms of immorality. Christians are not exempted from these evil waves. It’s when people have gone to tour museums and monumental sites that some buy some items which are idols and have evil deity connections which may be accursed in the sight of God. We will not go deeper than this. All I’m putting across is that off-work clouds may carry with themselves heavier drops than anticipated … in form of serious temptations.
2 Samuel 11:2 And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon. David was taking a roof walk relaxing because the Israel army had utterly destroyed the Ammonites. What followed before the end of the walk was a real bombshell. And things snowballed from lust to covetousness to adultery to conspiracy (duping Uriah into lying with his wife) and finally to murder! ‘An idle mind is a devil’s workshop’ so the saying goes. Let’s watch out! Even when we are having off-work events let us cling to Romans 12:1-2 ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.’ And let us also remember Colossians 3: 3 & 5, For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
– johnstone katuku
|
