Reality is not a state of Mind…but if not careful can be!

Strange as this story is, it will clearly illustrate my point. At the age of 2 ½, my older brothers convinced me that if I ever sat on a toilet, I would fall in and be sucked down the vortex, out into the ocean never to be found again. Being young and gullible, I believed this; it goes without saying that this complicated my life. Reality clearly showed that my body could never fit down into the little hole of a toilet; still, my mental state saw it differently; thus my fear changed what I thought the reality was. This false reality became quite a problem for me, and an embarrassment for my parents. I would do outside what most normal humans did privately in their homes. During this short period of my life, my mother worked for a US Senator; and so hired a woman to come in 3 days a week to watch us. This dear lady caught me outside in the act and reacted very quickly. 

Before I knew what was happening I was standing before the dreaded vortex, being challenged to understand that my body could never fit down that little hole? I was not moving…so she did it for me. Up in the air I went and came down seated firmly. Screaming as she flushed for the first time, I realized I was still firmly perched…by the third flush…there was no evil vortex to fear. Reality had returned and life was going to get better! 

The Scriptures states: For as he thinks within himself, so he is. Proverbs 23:7 

Our reality is impacted by our mindset. NOT the reality, for it is what it is, however our perception of what is real can be controlled by how we think. This is an important principle when dealing with destructive habits.

Let’s review – The first principle is to give the Holy Spirit His greatest weapon.

[1] Engraft scripture into your life and make it personal

The second principle we find from the Book of Romans

Romans 6:4–14 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. ⁵ For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; ⁷ for he who has died is freed from sin. ⁸ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. ¹⁰ For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹ Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. ¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, ¹³ and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. ¹⁴ For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

[2] Importance of mental state:  Reckon sin powerless

This is a must in the battle with destructive habits! This is not mere positive thinking or some sort of hopeful prayer. This is setting our minds to the reality of our life since salvation. Understanding that sin can longer command us the way it did when we were bond slaves to it, accomplishes two truths. First, that we have the upper hand, not sin. If we walk daily in the Spirit (Controlled by the Holy Spirit) the new nature is in charge and it will more difficult for the flesh to rule!

Galatians 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

Second, that we are actually more accountable now, than before salvation. We have been set free and so we can choose to allow sin to rule or not. This reality is essential in helping us measure the weight of our sin. When we see how our Lord sacrificed Himself to free us, we will not easily go back into it.

Paul precisely portrays this in another of his letters

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

As we see – the Scripture makes no qualms about our reality. We have been delivered from sin’s ability to command us. We died with Christ at the cross. We now live a life, if we choose, that is controlled by the Holy Spirit and is walking by faith. Faith in what? The trusting belief that when the Scripture states we are free and do not have to give in to destructive habits, that is the reality! A little hole can become a fearsome vortex if allowed to dictate our reality. Our circumstances or emotions do not change the reality…unless we let them!

Meditation Questions: When you fall into a destructive habit, do you spend most of your time feeling bad and sorry for yourself, or do you try to think over how and why it happened. What are your first thoughts when you awake in the morning? What does that say? Would you go to a cemetery to get advice? Then why listen to your old nature on how to live?