Lesson 82: The Struggle to Control the Mind
Most if not all people from time to time allow thoughts that are evil to enter their minds. Such thoughts can give rise to impulses to do evil things totally contrary to that which we value and cherish most. Such impulses can target things we value most. Psychologists long ago named this the “id”. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us “The heart is deceptive beyond all things and impossible to cure; who can know it”. The devil takes advantage when he can to move us toward evil thoughts and impulses. One subtlety used by both our innate “id” and the devil is when we allow pleasurable sin into our lives. To allow one’s self to enjoy and indulge that which is wrong and contrary to God can and does create an insensitivity that makes it easier to continue and even increase the nature and extent of the sin, bringing us to levels we would at first never have contemplated. This insensitivity brought about by the pleasurable sin can move us in the direction of weakness in resisting the “id” that wants to move us toward the thoughts and impulses to do the evil things that our hearts and values are most opposed to. The church is our only hope.
Attending church, reading our Bible, prayer, and fellowship with other Christians are the defenses God makes available to us so that our thoughts and actions can be pure. The power of our “id” and satan’s use of it are at their weakest in the stronghold of God’s defenses, and strongest when we put ourselves outside of them and into satan’s realm, which is the world at large. One of God’s promises is “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man. And God is faithful, and will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the escape, also that you may endure it”. The Scripture also tells us that we need not feel overwhelmed by satan and his cohorts, because Christ has overcome him and his end is certain.