“So, submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7 The Amplified Bible)
Your personal computer will provide you with plenty of synonyms for the word “Indiscriminate,” the title of today’s meditation. I’ll save you some of your valuable time by sharing some of synonyms, keeping you from having to look them up. The synonyms include: unselective, undiscerning, undifferentiating, and unsystematic.
Since a picture is worth a thousand words, including the synonyms that you just read, let me paint a picture on the canvas of your mind to ensure you have an understanding of “Indiscriminate.” The picture: In our part of the country, we are in a season where the Canadian geese seem to invade the land. With the invading comes a lot of inevitable messing, and I do not use that term figuratively or lightly. The geese act like they are masters of our spaces, and they don’t have respect for any places. They are indiscriminate. They block traffic on major streets, side streets, and streets we never heard of before. With the blocking comes, yes, the messing. The geese leave trails of mess causing one to have to walk like a football player dodging the most skilled, all-pro tacklers. You better be light on your feet! These Canadian geese land in both our front and back yards. If you don’t see them walking around, feeding on your lawn, paying no attention to your voices yelling to get off your property, or you don’t see them ignoring your persistent pounding on the window, don’t worry because you will not miss the mess they leave behind. They are indiscriminate. These geese show up for church on Sunday before a single soul shows up. Worshippers can’t go by the old song that says, “Keep your head to the sky,” but rather they need to be keeping their eyes to the ground. These Canadian geese are indiscriminate.
About now you are saying, “You are not telling me anything new!” That’s okay! But I had to paint a picture to lead to a point. The point: Every believer, regardless of the part of the country a person resides, he/she will have to deal with avoiding the mess that Satan can cause in their life. Satan is indiscriminate too! Yes, He is! He will try to mess you up by causing you to emulate or imitate, unconsciously so, behaviors you saw older folks display when they were young. Satan is indiscriminate too! Your position in life, your prosperity, your prestigious and powerful role in the secular world and/or in the church will not keep Satan from trying to tempt you to mess up your lives and/or others with the mess he can create. Satan, He is indiscriminate too! He can use the nonsense and the noise of unbelieving voices to lead you into a mess. He can use emotional stimuli to stir up buried thoughts of happenings in the past that you have left behind. He will do that to influence you to mess up your peace of mind or your peace with others. Satan is indiscriminate too.
Do you need more proof? Well, here is one that came to my mind immediately. Look in the Gospel of Matthew and see how the devil tempted Jesus, more than once, when Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit. Jesus overcame the mess that Satan was trying to stir up! He was victorious by depending on the word of God to fight off the tempter. We must hide the word of God in our hearts so that we will not sin against God. Why so? Well, I have said it more than once already, but I will say it again. Satan is indiscriminate too!
But here is some good news about “Indiscriminate.” The Lord is indiscriminate, when it comes to believers, helping us deal with temptation. He can keep you from mess and from messing up! If you can’t say it with transparency, I’ll say it for you! “I know that’s right!”
Go out today, depending on the Lord to lead you in the right way. Ask Him to help you dodge the mess, deliver you from mess, and get to the point where you don’t deny that the mess is just that, just mess! Have a great or perhaps a better day than you thought you would experience.
Oh, one more thing! Satan is not sovereign! He just seduces you to choose your will instead of God’s will. Just make up your mind friend to lean not on your own understanding. The choice is up to you, but I suggest, based on the word of God, that in all your way you acknowledge God and He will direct your path. That path is not one filled with mess! Praise God! Be blessed!
“No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, and He will not permit you to be tempted above what you can endure but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (I Corinthians 10:13 Modern English Version)
Committed to the climb,
Mark L. King