Day 63, Year 1

Detaching from Godless Thoughts

“<To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.> The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good.” (Psalm 14:1 NKJV)

This verse appears again in Psalm chapter 53 verse 1. Indeed, those who believe there is no God can act wickedly without restraint because they do not believe in the One who will bring retribution. This is sometimes also the thought and work of atheists. However, traces of “no God” could also be found in some believers. For instance, certain professions involve atheistic ideas. To illustrate, biology teachers inevitably have to introduce evolutionary theory that negates God’s creating works to students. But of course, they could wisely express their own stance while delivering the course content. This could enable students to understand different perspectives on the origin of life, allowing them to discern and choose a theory for themselves. It can be seen from this that believers must be wary of anything without God when working or studying.

For some first-generation believers, it could be incredibly difficult to refrain from participating in their families’ idol worship. When facing various customs of ancestor worship in various ethnicities, believers really need to pray to the Lord Jesus to grant us the power of the Holy Spirit, such that we can avoid participating in these evil and abominable sins and solely worship the Lord who created heaven and earth. To resist the pressure of interpersonal relationships, we need to think carefully about whom we are following moment by moment.

The mentality and habits of following the crowd might have a profound impact on believers, especially those habits that existed before conversion, including thoughts and actions that do not honor Jesus. Some interests and hobbies that seem unrelated to faith, such as various types of video games, celebrity worship, etc., could lead to increasing foolishness and addiction if Jesus is not in charge. It is because the stimulation and satisfaction offered by these things could cause people to disregard the feelings of their souls. After some time, these non-religious interests or hobbies, in turn, could bind people to disbelief in God! 

Therefore, we need to thoroughly examine our lives, identify the foolishness and the parts that do not have God, and invite Jesus into all habits and preferences. Let the Lord guide us, transform them to belong to and be used by Him. Meanwhile, eliminate those foolish beliefs and replace them with the Lord’s truth so that our lives are completely detached from foolishness.

Reflection questions:

1) Do you think that those who do not believe in God would surely do bad things? Why?

2) Are there any foolish beliefs and habits in your life that you need to work hard to eliminate and replace with God’s truth and godly habits? If there are, how do you want to change the most fundamental beliefs?