Turn your mind away

"But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow be lead astray from your pure and sincere devotion to Christ."
~2 Corinthians 11:3~ 

I came across this verse and was really struck by a couple things. First, that Paul is afraid for them, I'm not sure why that word stuck out to me as I read this verse but when I consider it, our minds being lead astray is something to be very afraid of. 

Our minds are often where sin starts. 

Consider Eve, she entertained the thought of taking the apple before she acted on it. 

Someone doesn't typically steal without contemplating or considering doing it first. 

Our thoughts  become our actions if we are not actively repenting of sinful thoughts - But sometimes we're not aware of our sinful thoughts, it's ingrained in our nature, the very core of who we as a human race are now, BUT we are also still deceived by the serpent's cunning. Sometimes it's blatant obvious sin that our train of thought travels in, sometimes it's half truths that seem harmless or very reasonable to our flawed minds, sometimes it's worldly entertainment and distractions that can become idols in our lives. 

I've had some real conviction in this area of my own life lately and wanted to write this post as a reminder. 

We can not have a pure and sincere devotion to Christ if we are being deceived or constantly allowing our minds to stray,  we can not serve two masters. 

A step back

I've gone back to post-secondary ! Yup, I'm stepping back into the world of class schedules, assignments, group projects and living away from home cooked meals.  I'm excited to be back in a time of expanding my knowledge again but as excited as I am for that the past week of moving away from friends and the town I know has made me quite discontent. Not that I don't like the people and classmates I've met here - but  I just want to be around the people who know me well, the things and places I know and love.

I don't want to feel lonely and alone, as I was thinking about all this late last night and early this morning I needed to take a big step back, breathe and stop listening to all the whining, the doubts, the fears - and that's when God started talking.

He reminded me that I don't need to be lonely, that I'm not alone. That my desire to be around what I know is a reminder saying to me that my soul desire's to be known by Him, not necessarily everyone else.
 He reminded me that my excitement for expanding my knowledge in school should not overpower my excitement to gain more knowledge of Him and that it should always be my  priority because I will need to know Him to live my life more than I will need my skills of using proper interventions, assessing clients or therapeutic programming.

Hopefully, this can be an encouragement and reminder to anyone else that needs it right now! :)