Poison in, vitriol out

Thought- If we allow poisonous thoughts to enter our mind, we can expect vitriol and hatred to spew forth from our lips as a result. Poison in, vitriol out, so protect what you allow into your mind.

Scripture- “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

Insight: I have grown fond of this Scripture above from 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 over the years for how it guides me to be careful on what I allow into my conscience and my thought stream and to fight hard to ensure my thoughts are pure and good. If I am not on my guard and trying my best to take “every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ,” I can easily allow the enemy to draw me into the thought battles that are raging every day on social and mainstream media. Many of the thoughts and narratives spewing forth from today’s various media outlets are destructive forces, filled with hate and vitriol. If you allow them into your mind, it is easy to begin to speak poisonous words of anger that are so emblematic of today’s public discourse.

 I believe as Christians, we must learn to live above that fray and focus on being “peacemakers” as Christ preached in Matthew 5:9  Political discourse has regressed to a point of hating people who oppose your particular point of view, so why even allow ourselves to be drawn into such hostile conversations. Instead, what the World truly needs right now is to hear and know about the hope and love of God, expressed through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus, as an atoning sacrifice for our sin. Love heals the all wounds, and “ God is love “ -1 John 4:8 so we should control what we think about and what we say to those who come into our spheres of influence. Romans 8:22 states “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” Therefore, let us be ambassadors of peace who carefully watch both what we allow to go into our minds and come out of our mouths.

Prayer: Father God, help us to be peacemakers as the world needs Christians to stand in the gaps of hatred and display the love of God now maybe more than ever before. We pray in Jesus name. Amen!