Getting a Different View

           Halloween in Indiana usually meant that kids would try to be as evil as they could be. We would make a “Willy Wood Tacker” out of an empty spool of thread by cutting notches in the two rims of the spool, tying a string on it, put a nail through it and then rest it upon an unsuspecting families house, pull the string as the empty spool made a terrible noise on the window pane, pull the string quickly, and then run as fast as we could. Sounded like fun at the time. The second and perhaps the most terrible of activities as the overturning of as many outhouses as you could find. The third thing we would try to do is the “soaping” of windows. As you can see, our Halloween activities were nothing to be admired. Mankind doesn't have to take too long to figure out ways to be evil. It comes naturally. Halloween is not a time to be admired and in my estimation should not even be considered to be a holiday as such as it feeds man's inherent nature to do that which is evil in the first place. The history and purpose of Halloween should give you enough information to make you want to do something other than begging for candy in a disguise. You may say that I am an old, “fuddy duddy.” I guess that would be right. Emphasis should be placed on the positive rather than on the negative. Mark 12:30-31 says, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.  And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

         There is none other commandment greater than these.” In Romans 12:1-2, the Apostle Paul wrote about the subject of renewing of one's mind. Our minds are naturally in the negative mode from the start and doesn't need to be prompted more and more in that direction. The course of one's thinking needs to be focused in a different direction and that is were the passage for today comes in. In the above passage, the Lord Jesus Christ is summing up the whole Ten commandments and heavy emphasis is placed on the “Loving of God” first and foremost in your life. If you feel that you have spent too much time in loving God and therefore need a temporary diversion by being evil, it will come easily and will move your spiritual growth back a few steps. The living out of the above passage is a lifetime project. It needs to be done every day, every moment, every hour and every second. If you slip into neutral for one moment, you will have already began to chip away at your own progress. By putting on a costume and assuming to be something different from what you really are, places you into the category of Flip Wilson's statement, “The devil made me do it.” The devil doesn't have to do it; we can do it adequately ourselves. Focus then should be directed in another direction and that direction is towards God. This takes a conscious effort before it comes naturally and it is a lifetime battle. It's thinking about God when you get up, throughout the day, into the evening and before you go to bed. You may ask, “How can I function if all I am doing is thinking about and worshiping God?” If what you are thinking and what you are doing is not honorable in the presence of God, then Guess what? You shouldn't be doing it in the first place. You can begin by Praising God this moment for Who He is and How He is working in your life.