An incident that occurred to me just a while ago taught me a great lesson. “It just takes a second of decision to get you contaminated”. Just a snap of a decision could either get you into a ditch or scale you across it. It could take just a click of a button for anyone to get addicted to an act that can destroy the person forever. How do we call this? Perhaps the seed of the devil.
An auntie visited home this afternoon. I felt I could copy for her an exciting version of an audio bible I obtained from my sister Ida. I was wondering which pen drive I could easily give away for a while to do this. Suddenly I remembered coming across a pen drive in a jewelry box belonging to my mother.
*A little bit about my mother:*
She is a very hard working woman who offered to employ her workerholism as a ministry in church. Two o’clock is her normal time of waking up on a Sunday morning and latest by three thirty am she is off to church to clean up the very huge church. She also plays a very active role in cleaning the WESTEND HOSTEL for a pastors wives and lady pastors’ conference which comes off every year within the long vacation of the KNUST. It was on one of these cleaning expeditions she picked up this abandoned pen drive I found in her jewelry box. Obviously mama who has not even switched on a computer before had no use for one of these our modern day devices. It only earned a place in her jewelry box to save her the discomfort of this device traveling up and down in her bag.
I asked her whether that was my sister’s flash drive knowing very well that the church drummer promised to give her a pen drive my sister left with him before traveling to Accra. “Oh that thing; it’s a pen drive eh, me I didn’t know oh! I just picked it up at WESTEND” she responded.
Well I felt excited. A pen drive that belonged to nobody; I could easily copy this bible unto it for Auntie Irene and not worry about getting it back. She headed straight for it and gave it to me. I inserted and scanned it on my laptop and decided to open it to see what was in it. Peradventure I could find a few useful academic files on a student’s abandoned pen drive. This was however not to be. I was astounded by the first sound of the names I heard. “Busty girl fucked and fingered at *something *porn dot com” and another MP4 file I suspected to be a movie. At least the common sense in birds of the same feather flock together could tell me the other movie file could be as pornographic as its counterpart.
The questions started coming to me. To watch or not to watch. I was alone anyway. What a good setting for an affirmative action of the kind. Eh! Joseph hmmm!!! Two sides of my mind began battling with enticing words and reasons jostling for my vote. Don’t do it, this is the path all people who got caught up in the addiction of pornography took. Watch what enters it. Guard your heart with all diligence for out of it comes the issues of life. What enters the windows of your spirit (the eyes and ears) can either make or break you. Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Do not offer any part of your members as an instrument of sinfulness but offer your bodies as a living sacrifice wholly unto God which is your reasonable worship. You were created for good works and you have to walk in that. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. You are led away into sin by your own lustfulness; don’t feed it. It will be a snare unto you.
Don’t suppose for a minute that these words silenced the opposition party. Ah! Be real; you are in the real world. Don’t watch just look at what it is. You sometimes advice people right? So then you must know what they go through before you count yourself a worthy councilor to anyone addicted to this. Aren’t you a media person? You need to know a bit about everything. You could even make a case from there for panelists to address on a show.
Who do I listen to? Both parties were quite convincing and forthwith. Points well delivered reasons adequately tabled to substantiate stance. To douse your suspense for the answer, let’s go for a quick commercial break, we’ll be right back!!
Welcome back
Will you please listen to this song before we continue the story?
Be careful little eyes what you see, be careful little eyes what you see, for the father above is watching what you do. So be careful little eyes what you see. It’s a slow thing when you give yourself away; people never crumble in a day.
Those are the words I remembered from the song by the casting crowns music group. I guess by now you know that I went the way of the former. I quickly went back to “my computer” pressed shift F 10 and went to my contest menu scrolled through with my arrow keys, located format and pressed enter. I know you sighted people would want to use your mouse and right click and go through with that little arrow which keeps hiding from me and do your own thing. What a boring process! I don’t even remember when I used my mouse for anything! *Just teasing, no offense meant.*
I have however learnt so much from this short episode. The father admonishes us to count it all joy when we pass through diverse trials and temptation. I know this is in James 1 within the first chapters. Don’t ask me where the scripture references in the write – up above are found. I guess this is also a lesson. In as much as the memorizing of the scriptures and the knowledge of where they can be found is important, just understanding the word, meditating on it and keeping it in your heart is the most important. Preoccupying yourself with the latter could even make up for the former.
We have to situate temptations in its right context. The problem is how we look at the temptation. They are just tests for either an approval of the lord for a higher assignment or an examination for a blessing or promotion in your life. Understanding temptations this way, even gives us motivation to overcome the temptation. Sometimes however, foolishness will blind us from recognizing that its even temptation but the Holy Spirit is so faithful to prompt us. Don’t be ignorant of the devices of the enemy and never lose touch with the Holy Spirit if I may add.
We must also keep it in mind that no temptation will befall us as is not common to all. The bible strengthens us in the word that the temptation is not a thunderbolt in the sky directed at you alone. It occurs in the lives of many and many have overcome it. You could even find similar or shadow replications in the bible and how God’s people overcame them. If it is to us something that happens to all the brethering and many have overcome it before, then it is possible for us to make it through. God also tells us he will not allow the evil one to bring to us any temptations we cannot bear. This means God is always aware of the temptation before it comes to us. That presupposes that your temptation is a match God keenly watches and expects you to win. He believes in you and knows you will bury the match because he knows what strength is in you. He will however not come to restrain you. You are a moral being with choices to make for yourself. You choose whether to make God proud or make the devil proud. In other words you have the choice to either shame the devil before the word in affirmation what God knows you can do to the devil or flaw yourself before the accuser of the brethering who has nothing good for you. Just look at the consequences of every temptation we fail and see how bad it is. Any pleasure the devil gives you is wrapped with a deadly serpent in it ready to strike. Don’t keep unwrapping the devils gifts in any situation you find yourself. The closer you get to where the serpent is hidden, the more appealing, pleasurable and addictive it becomes.
Another profound lesson I gleaned from this episode is that the mind is a battle field and you have the responsibility to strengthen the God side of the battle field. You also even have the responsibility to keep the enemy from even getting his weapons and men into this field. Just as you are scoring goals you also have to keep your back closed you your opponents. I hope Ghana black stars players hear this from Coach Ivan. The devil’s premier doorways of getting in his weapons are through what we watch and listen to. You can see and CHOOSE not to watch. You can hear and choose not to listen. The devil however is too smart; he knows some Christians and even moral people will never sit to watch a pornographic movie. So he will smuggle the weapons in through movies (even some so called gospel movies), songs, books and other forms of informative media. Demonization is also part of the doorways the enemy uses to strengthen his hold in the battle field. However, what we hear and see are spirits and life. They either strengthen our urge to win in the battle of temptations or weaken our ranks or make us vulnerable to attacks and failure during temptations. Mount guard and make sure that nothing untoward enters.
I also realize that the devil can give you a thousand and one VERY LEGITIMATE and LOGICAL REASONS why you should do what is wrongful in the sight of God. This is why we need to know the word of God in our hearts to counter any strongholds, imaginations and any high thing that exalts itself against the will and knowledge of God.
Oh! I haven’t been able to copy the audio bible unto the pen drive yet and my auntie is even rushing out to catch her flight back to Accra. The formatted flash drive is still in the laptop as I type this article. Anyway next time for her. Thank God I didn’t inform her before deciding to give it to her. I am at lease not under pressure to deliver it. She will come around again anyway.
People, God has so much confidence in us. Let’s make him proud. Feed the wolf that will protect you when it is matured and starve to death the little wolf which is destined to kill you. The wolf of protection may seem boring and less enticing in the interim. The killer wolf will have to be exciting, playful and entertaining to get your attention to feed it. But weigh wisely the far reaching consequences and make the right choice. God bless you.
Light to the world.
